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THE PATHWAY 



OP 



VICTORY. 



ROBERT B. GIRDLESTONE, M.A. 

HON. CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH ; LATE PRINCIPAL OF WYCLIFFE HALL ? 
AUTHOR OF "THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE BIBLE," ETO. 



- 



*■ Thine, O Lord, is the Victory? 



CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & CURTS. 
NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON. 



J5VA50 
.&573 



. ... .-• • • 

;•, ..: •..: : : 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. SIN : ITS NATURE AND ASPECTS • . . . I 

II. FURTHER DISCUSSION CONCERNING SIN. . . IO 

III. CHRIST AND TEMPTATION 1 8 

IV. THE SINLESS PERFECTION OF CHRIST . . 2$ 

V. THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITION WITH REFERENCE TO SIN 30 

VI. VICTORY THROUGH THE ACTION OF THE SPIRIT OF 

CHRIST 38 

VII. THE CHIEF MEANS- USED BY THE SPIRIT TO SECURE 

OUR VICTORY OVER SIN 45 

VIII; SUPPLEMENTARY AIDS TO HOLY LIVING . . 53 

IX. CAUSES OF FAILURE 6 1 

X. PRACTICAL CONCLUSION J$ 

A MORNING MEDITATION AND DECISION . . . S^ 

INDEX OF SUBJECTS 87 

iii 



THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

CHAPTER I. 

SIN: ITS NATURE AND ASPECTS. 

There is a good sound about the word victory. 
Although it is rarely found in the New Testament, 
yet we recognise it as one of the keynotes of the 
Gospel. We believe that Christ has won a victory 
for us over Satan and sin and death. We pledge 
ourselves in Baptism to fight manfully under Christ's 
banner. We go forth conquering and to conquer, 
and we take to ourselves the promises which are for 
those who have overcome. We sing — 

" At the name of Jesus, Satan's host cloth flee ; 
On, then, Christian soldiers, on to victory.'' 

And again — 

" Onward, then, in battle move, 

More than conquerors ye shall prove ; 
Though opposed by many a foe, 
Christian soldiers, onward go." 



2 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

It is observable that our popular hymns usually 
postpone victory until after this life is ended ; and 
it becomes a question whether we are enjoying the 
present fruits of Christ's victory to the full, and 
whether we are not relegating to the future those 
moral triumphs and spiritual successes which we 
might be obtaining now. 

What is the normal condition of the Christian ? 
Is it victory, or failure ? There is no doubt what it 
ought to be and what it might be. The Christian 
ought to be fighting a winning battle against all sin 
in the strength of Christ. But when we come down 
to facts and experiences we have to echo the words 
of St. James, 1 who says that " in many things we 
offend, one and all of us " (airavres). Not, indeed, all 
equally ; nor perhaps, all consciously ; and some have 
apparently found out a secret, a knack of doing things 
rightly, which others do not possess ; but the majo- 
rity of Christians can sorrowfully say Amen to the 
familiar words — 

" And none, Lord, have perfect rest, 
For none are wholly free from sin ; 
And they who fain would serve Thee best 
Are conscious most of wrong within." 

The matter is of vital importance. The honour of 
our Master is concerned in it, and our own present 
well-being and future destiny are seriously affected 

1 iii. i. 



SIN: ITS NATURE AND ASPECTS. 3 

by it. Let us address ourselves to the two questions, 
Why do Christians fail so often ? and, How can we 
reduce failure to a minimum ? Hitherto many of us 
have said, " I have tried again and again to conquer 
my hasty temper, to arrest my inattention in prayer, 
to drive away worldly thoughts and sensual desires ; 
but I have failed. I have been better for a time, and 
then slipped back. My first love has grown cold ; my 
later impressions have been short-lived ; and though 
I have improved in some things, I am utterly dis- 
satisfied with my condition, and I long for a steady 
flow of moral victory over self." Let us see if there 
is anything wrong about our beliefs or our methods, 
and for this purpose let us face the matter in the 
light of Scripture, not neglecting the experience of 
past and present Christendom, for all Churches and 
ages are equally concerned in the matter. 

Our first business must be to investigate the 
nature, the force, and the tactics of the enemy with 
whom we are in conflict. We must go to the root of 
the matter, and study Sin. 

The Biblical words for Sin are a revelation and a 
philosophy in themselves. When Daniel confessed 
his people's sin he said, 1 " We have sinned, and have 
committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and 
have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts 
and from Thy judgments." 

1 ix. 5. 



4 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

Here we have five words and ideas. 

I. "We have sinned" — Literally, we have failed 
or missed the mark for which we were intended by 
our Creator. This is the primary idea of sin both 
in Hebrew x and Greek ; 2 and it is perhaps referred 
to by St. Paul when he says in Rom. iii. 23, "All 
have sinned, and have come short of the glory of 
God." God intended man to be conformed to His 
own character. He desired to bring many sons unto 
glory. But we have failed, and have missed this 
end of our creation. 

II. "We have committed iniquity" — The Hebrew 
word (TVty) means to be twisted or distorted or per- 
verted ; and we may compare the English word 
" wrong," which means that which is " wrung " out 
of course. We have a moral twist in our nature. 
There is a consequent lack of harmony in our lives. 
All is out of proportion. The animal predominates 
over the spiritual. 

III. " We have done wickedly." — The Hebrew word 
(yV)~)) signifies unquietness or restlessness, and marks 
the disturbing influence of sin on our nature. The 
wicked are said to be like the troubled sea. There 
is no peace for them, either -internally or socially. 
Whence come our wars ? our fightings ? our social 
conflicts ? our longing after excitement ? It has 
been said that man is the great disturber of nature. 

1 NDPI 2 auaona. 



SIN; ITS NATURE AND ASPECTS. 5 

This is true; and it is equally true that sin is the 
great disturber of man. 

IV. "We have rebelled, by departing from Tluf 'pre- 
cepts" — This is the setting of self against God, the 
creature against the Creator, and it implies a breach 
of those moral laws which He by inherent right called 
upon us to obey. 

The passage we have been analysing does not stand 
alone. The first triad of words are to be found in Ps. 
cvi. 6, " We have sinned with our fathers, we have 
committed iniquity, we have done wickedly." They 
are to be found still earlier, viz., in Solomon's prayer 
at the dedication of the Temple, both as given in 
I Kings viii. 47 and in 2 Chron. vi. 37. Here we read 
that when the people should be carried captive for their 
sins, yet if they should bethink themselves and repent, 
and make supplication, saying, " We have sinned, we 
have done perversely, we have committed wickedness," 
then God is implored to pardon and restore them. 

When we reflect on the ideas thus stamped upon 
the pages and on the very words of the Old Testa- 
ment, we find they involve three things. 

First, They presuppose the law of God; i.e., the 
expression of His will, whether orally in the way of 
positive command, or physiologically through the 
communication of certain moral tendencies to man's 
original nature. By the aid of such tendencies the 
Divine end in the creation of man was to be carried out. 



6 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

Secondly, They presuppose a certain amount of 
freedom in man — freedom to use, and consequently 
to abuse, God's gifts ; and to obey, and consequently 
to disobey, God's law. Moral tendencies are not li,ke 
physical laws. They impel, but they do not compel. 
They have to be used, and man's will is the instru- 
ment which puts them in motion. 

Thirdly, They presuppose a certain amount of 
knowledge in man. If the narrative in Gen. iii. may 
be trusted as setting forth — however figuratively — 
the story of the Fall, the first sin was not a sin of 
ignorance, for God's order had been definite. Since 
that time we have been ignorant of many things, 
but our ignorance is in part culpable. We might 
have known better. Absolute ignorance would have 
put us out of the pale of responsibility ; but re- 
sponsibility is freely acknowledged or implied in 
these confessions. It may be gathered that every 
departure from God's precepts, even though not 
deliberate or even conscious, is culpable. Man's 
responsibility may reach further than his conscious- 
ness. Sin includes every breach of Divine law, even 
though the offender be not aware of the full import 
and gravity of what he is doing. 1 

1 The definition given by the Salvation Army (" Doctrines and 
Discipline," § 14) runs thus : — " Sin consists in doing that which 
we know to be wrong, inwardly or outwardly, or in not doing that 
which we know to be right." This definition excludes sins of 
ignorance. "There are two causes," says Augustine, "that lead 



SIN: ITS NATURE AND ASPECTS. 7 

The relationship ■ between sin and law is clearly- 
stated in the New Testament. Thus St. Paul says 
(Rom. v. 13), " Sin is not reckoned where there is no 
law" (see also Rom. vii. 7-12). St. John says 1 that 
every departure from law (avofiia) is sin, and that 
every breach of righteousness (a$i/cia) is sin. 2 The 
two Greek words which he here uses answer to three 
Hebrew words usually rendered unrighteousness or 
iniquity, transgression, and wickedness. 

It ought to be noticed that in the Old Testament 
the word " sin " is generally used, not in the general 
sense of sinfulness, but rather with reference to 
definite blameworthy acts (e.g., Gen. xliii. 9). It is 
frequently used in confessions, and is applicable to 
all divergence from right, whether in the sphere of 
morals, worship, or ceremonial. There are, in fact, 
as many kinds of sin as there are kinds of law. 
Thus, there is sin against oneself, shown in the 
disregard of the laws of one's body (e.g., 1 Cor. vi. 8). 
There is sin against one's neighbour (e.g., Gen. xl. 1 ; 
1 Sam. ii. 25; Matt, xviii. IS; I Cor. viii. 12). In 
these cases the laws of true social order are broken. 
And there is sin against God. This last really in- 
cludes all sin, because all law, physical and social, 
if worthy of the name, proceeds from Him. 

us to sin : either we do not yet know our duty, or we do not per- 
form the duty that we know. The former is the sin of ignorance, 
the latter of weakness " {End arid ion, § 81). 

1 I John iii. 4. 3 I John v. 17. 



8 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

411 sins are nearly related to one another. We 
read that he who sins against God wrongeth his 
own soul (Prov. viii. 36). If I injure my neighbour 
I injure my conscience. If I neglect God's warn- 
ings delivered by His servants the prophets, I am 
neglecting my own welfare. To break one law is 
thus, in a certain sense, to break all, 1 because it is 
breach of allegiance to Him who is the Fountain-head 
of all law. It is not to be forgotten that there is 
such a thing as sin against Christ. Every breach of 
the law of Christ is — to the Christian — a sin. St. 
Paul says, a Bear ye one another's burdens, and so 
fulfil the law of Christ " (Gal. vi. 2). Consequently 
if I fail to bear the burdens of others I sin against 
Christ. He says again (1 Cor. viii. 12), " When ye 
sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak 
conscience, ye sin against Christ." The Christian is 
under the law of Christ (1 Cor. ix. 21). He is bound 
to obey all that the Lord has commanded. He may 
not pick and choose amongst the Lord's precepts. 
The teaching of Christ, as recorded in the Gospels 
and as expounded in the Epistles, is his standard of 
right, and every failure to fulfil it, whether conscious 
or unconscious, is sin. 

There are as many degrees of sin, or of sinfulness 
as there are degrees of opportunity and of respon- 
sibility. No two human beings are exactly alike in 
1 James ii. 10. 



SIN: ITS NATURE AND ASPECTS. 9 

all respects. Esau and Jacob had the same paren- 
tage, the same early training, yet they must have 
been as unlike in their original nature as they 
were divergent in their after history. Our Lord 
awards few stripes to the ignorant sinner, and many 
to the sinner who knows better, indicating thereby 
that our responsibility varies with our knowledge 
(Luke xii. 47, 48). He says to Pilate, " He that 
delivered me Xinto thee hath the greater sin," im- 
plying that Caiaphas had greater opportunities of 
knowing truth than Pilate (John xix. 11). So St. 
James says that the teacher will be dealt with more 
strictly than the learner (James iii. 1). He adds 
that " to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth 
it not, to him it is sin." x St. John says that there 
is a sin unto death: and a sin not unto death (1 
John v. 16, 17). The passages of which these 
are a sample deserve careful study, especially in 
their bearing on man's future destiny. It is an 
intense relief to know that God judges each man 
according to his capacities and opportunities. He 
knows whereof we are made and how we have been 
brought up. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
of Tyre and Sidon, and of Nineveh, will not be dealt 
with as the people of Capernaum, Chorazin, and 
Bethsaida ; nor will the people of East London have 
the same judgment as those of Belgravia. 

1 James iv. 17. 



CHAPTER II. 

FURTHER DISCUSSION CONCERNING SIN. 

There are three questions to be asked concerning 
sin when we proceed to a strict analysis of its 
nature : What is it ? Where is it ? Whence is it ? 
I. What is Sin? — Is it something done (actus), 
or the doing of it (actio) ? This is one of the old 
questions discussed as far back as the time of 
Augustine and Pelagius. The real answer seems 
to be, that when the wrong thing is done it is an 
evil, but the doing of it is a sin. At the same time, 
we cannot isolate the thing done from the doing of 
it, nor the action from the actor, any more than we 
can isolate the hand from him that uses it. Oar 
sins are from ourselves and become part of our- 
selves, or at any rate part of our moral history, of 
which our character is the product. Whatever we 
do, not only proceeds from us, but produces an effect 
on us. It tends to form a habit ; and habits become 
second nature ; they confirm or counteract certain 
tendencies in us ; they become laws, i.e., binding 
principles, impelling us in one direction rather than 



FURTHER DISCUSSION CONCERNING SIN. u 

in another. So sin becomes our master, and as our 
Lord said (John viii. 34), He that committeth sin is 
a slave to sin (cf. Rom. vii. 21-23). The tyrant is 
home-grown. We generate him by what we do. 
There is a marvellous action and reaction in morals. 
Actions develop character, and character produces 
actions. The seeds of sin, once started in our nature, 
grow up into trees an4 bring forth fruit after their 
kind. 

II. Where is Sin ? — Is it in the hand ? the tongue ? 
the eye ? No, we must go deeper ; we must go 
down to the springs ot our being ; we must put our 
finger on the source of all moral action, on that in us 
which exercises choice, which decides what we shall 
do next, which says Yes or No, and which determines 
our course one way or another. Christ calls it the 
heart (Mark vii. 21-23), St. James and St. Peter 
call it the desire (Jas. i. 15 ; 1 Pet. ii. 11), St. Paul 
calls it the affection or mind ($>pov7)fia, Rom. viii. 6). 
He also speaks, as the other apostles do, of the 
desires of the flesh and of the mind (Gal. v. 16, 
Eph. ii. 3), and calls them " the old man," i.e., the 
old Adam. 

We may conclude that sin is the giving heed 
to the animal part of our nature ; it is selfishness 
leading to self-will. We yield to our natural desires, 
and the desires being yielded to, generate sin. We 
are not thinking of rebelling when we sin, but rather 



12 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

of enjoying ourselves. It has been well said that a 
man gets drunk, not because it is wrong, but because 
he likes it. Sin has its pleasures for a season. It 
has its attractions, and these are specially adapted 
to certain inclinations which form part of ourselves. 
We are led by them ; and we sin. 

What a force there is in desire ! How intense 
and pressing it may becorne ! If allowed a loose 
rein it soon runs away with us — and then where 
are we ? We sin once to get rid of a desire, hoping 
it will never come again. Shortly afterwards the 
evil thing knocks at our door and demands to be 
let in. We find ourselves slaves. 

Sin, then, lies not in the fleshly desires, but in 
the personal will which yields to the desires when 
it might do otherwise. 

III. Whence is Sin ? — We may answer that in our 
case it is inherited. It is a transmitted tendency 
or proneness, which is itself of the nature of a 
punishment on the original sinner. Poena peccati 
vitium naturce. It may be traced back through the 
human pedigree to the time of our first parents. 
Adam and Eve are described in Genesis as having 
beenMealt with very much as little children. Their 
Creator put them in the garden as probationers, 
but they did not stand the test. Temptation, evil 
suggestion, came from without. The enemy assailed 
them subtilely, successfully, and they fell. Grievous 



FURTHER DISCUSSION CONCERNING SIN. 13 

though the story is, yet we rejoice in the revela- 
tion that sin was not wholly from within. As 
Temptation came from without, so it was possible 
that Redemption might come from without also. 
And thus the chapter which tells the story of the 
Fall indicates the prospect of Recovery. We must 
not overlook the fact that the enemy of our first 
parents is still busy with us ; and in reckoning up 
our difficulties we have to put down, first, inherited 
sinfulness ; second, a malignant foe, who is ever 
ready to take the Word of God out of our heart 
(Matt. xiii. 19), and goes about like a roaring lion, 
seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter v. 8). 

At the same time, we cannot get rid of all our 
personal responsibility, though it is considerably 
reduced by these two factors. We are moral, not 
mechanical, beings ; an amount of choice is given 
to all. There is a power to say No to every seduc- 
tion of the Evil One, and a power to say Yes to 
every suggestion of conscience. Is there a single 
human being who can say, " I have not of my own 
accord done wrong " ? Is there one who can say, 
" Sin may have been wrought in me, but it has not 
been wrought by me " 1 A man must be morally 
blind who is not ready to acknowledge that he has 
accumulated sin in his own life through personal 
wrong-doing, through neglect of the voice of con- 
science, through absorption in earthly affairs, and 



14 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

through giving heed to the seductions of fleshly 
desire. 

Shall we, then, lay the blame on our ignorance, 
and say, " I did not know better" ? But if we had 
attended more to the voice of conscience we should 
have known better. God has not left Himself with- 
out witness, even in the rudest of human beings. 

Shall we plead our moral inability ? But if we 
had sought Divine strength we should have found it. 
How often people say, " I could not help it ! " But 
perhaps we could help it if we had gone about the 
matter in the right way. St. Paul says that what- 
soever is not of faith is sin (Eom. xiv. 23) ; conse- 
quently, if we had more faith we should have less 
sin. Faith is not an unattainable gift, and we must 
not throw off upon God the whole responsibility of 
our not possessing it. 

Must all men, then, be included under the charge 
of having sinned ? Yes ; all men — save One only. 
The whole human vine has brought forth wild 
grapes. When Solomon said, " There is no man 
that sinneth not" (1 Kings viii. 46), he spoke for 
all time. St. Paul puts it strongly in the Epistle 
to the Romans when he tells us that " all have 
sinned" (iii. 23), and describes us as ungodly and 
without moral strength (Rom. v. 6); and St. John 
adds, that to say we have not sinned is to make 
God a liar (1 John i. 10). Lapse of centuries has 



FURTHER DISCUSSION CONCERNING SIN. 15 

not altered our case, nor has the advance of civilisa- 
tion improved our moral condition. The witness of 
Scripture is still true. 

It is true — and it ought to be plain to the most 
ordinary understanding — that we have not all sinned 
equally. It is true, also, that we may sin in one sense 
and not sin in another. The word is frequently used 
in Scripture of specific sins, of which we have not 
necessarily to accuse ourselves. In Ezek. xvi. 51,52, 
Samaria appears to be righteous in comparison with 
Judah. In John xv. 22, 24, the Jewish nation, we 
are told, would have had no sin if Christ had not 
come among them. In 1 Tim. v. 20 those that sin are 
regarded as exceptional cases ; and so in Tit. iii. 1 1. 
Some persons have lived comparatively sinless lives 
in each dispensation. Enoch, Zacharias, Elizabeth, 
Nathanael, and St. Paul evidently lived very near to 
God at certain periods of their lives. We can see 
the same thing among Christians still. Yet the 
greatest of all these saints, past or present, would 

V 

never dare to say, " I have not sinned." 

Before closing this part of our discussion it is 
right to notice in outline the chief results of sin on 
human nature. It has left its mark on the history of 
all nations and of all individuals, and may well be 
characterised by the word Degeneration. 

The image of God is defaced. The spirit of loving, 
trustful obedience has failed. Weakness has set in. 



1 6 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

There is an inclination to evil, inborn and habi- 
tual, so that wrong-doing is easy and right-doing 
is difficult. 

Human nature has become diseased. There is a 
lack of harmony in it, a lack of due subordination. 
The law of Right, even where recognised, has lost 
control over the lower nature. The conscience is 
deadened, or at least dormant. It does not speak 
with the voice of command. We are morally weak, 
even if not enslaved to our animal passion, and are 
thus peculiarly open to the attacks of the Evil One. 

Our condition is sometimes described as one of 
darkness and blindness, by which is implied, not 
only lack of information, but also lack of sensitive- 
ness to the things of God. The consciousness is 
hardly awake to the things spiritual and eternal side 
of existence. 

Another consequence of sin is Pollution. There is 
a moral stain on our nature, an uncleanness of heart 
and imagination. Our ideas run in low ruts; our 
thoughts are habituated to go off in wrong directions. 
Lastly, there is death — not only physical, i.e., the 
separation between the soul and body, but spiritual, 
i.e., the separation between the inner consciousness 
and God. The spirit of sonship has given way to 
alienation, if not to enmity. God is no longer " in 
all our thoughts." We just believe in Him, but — 
in many cases — that is all. He has departed from 



FURTHER DISCUSSION CONCERNING SIN. 17 

the temple, on the ruined gateway of which, as John 
Howe says, may yet be discerned the characters, 
" Here God once dwelt." 

Such are the wrongs which sin has introduced into 
human nature. The contemplation of them in barest 
outline shows us how many things we need in order 
to be put right again. Pardon, strength, cleansing, 
life — these are the primary needs of every child of 
man. We cry for them to our Creator, convinced 
that He is ready and willing and able in some way 
or other, and in some time or other, to satisfy them. 
In the ninth chapter of Daniel, to which reference 
has already been made, the prophet hides nothing, 
extenuates nothing, tells everything, and then be- 
seeches God to exercise His attributes: — "0 Lord, 
hear; Lord, forgive; Lord, hearken and do; 
defer not, for Thine own name sake, my God." 
He is convinced that the remedy for sin in all its 
aspects is to be found in God. Was he mistaken ? 
The glad news contained in the mission of Christ 
Jesus the Lord supplies us with the happy 
answer. 



CHAPTER III. 

CHRIST AND TEMPTATION. 

We have seen that sin means failure ; that it is the 
yielding to self-indulgence in defiance of the Word 
of God ; that it originated with temptation ; that it 
is inherited ; that it is fostered by ignorance and 
unbelief; that it presents varied aspects and has 
many degrees of blameworthiness ; and that all man- 
kind are infected by it, — One only except. We now 
have to consider that exception. 

The more we meditate on the nature and work of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, the more we feel that we 
must draw a line between Him and all other men. 
There is no one like Him. Many whose lives are 
recorded in ancient history have lived exemplary 
lives, and have done great things. There have been 
patriarchs, judges, kings, prophets, legislators, public 
and private benefactors. But no one ever lived such 
a life or proposed to do such a work as Jesus did. 
Moreover, we know more about Him than we do 
about any one else. We have four portraits, four 
memoirs of Him, which have travelled safely down 

18 



CHRIST AND TEMPTATION. 19 

through eighteen centuries, and which we may trust 
as giving a faithful account of the impression He 
produced on His contemporaries. They, are, indeed 
only selections. We could not have absorbed annals 
or journals. The world could not have contained them. 
Let us notice four points about the Lord Jesus, 
two of which tend to separate Him from us, whilst 
the other two bring Him near us. 

I. The Lord differed from all other men in His 
original nature. He alone came into the world as 
the Son of God. Consequently He brought into the 
world a spirit habituated to loving obedience. The 
very thing which we have all lost He possessed. 

II. He took manhood, with its physical limita- 
tions, its natural feelings, inclinations, and desires, 
but without its moral degeneracy. He was made in 
the likeness of sinful flesh (Eom. viii. 3), but not in 
sinful flesh. The supernatural circumstances which 
we refer to when we speak of His being born of a 
pure virgin harmonise with the fact that, though 
human, He was absolutely sinless. The entail of 
proneness to sin was cut off in His case, but in 
no other. 

These two distinguishing marks in the nature of 
Christ may at first cause us a shade of disappoint- 
ment, for they show that He was in a certain sense 
" separate from sinners," and that He was not entirely 
one with ourselves in respect to our fallen nature. 



20 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

But let us look further. 

III. He was tempted in all points, 1 e.g., all round, 
in every department of His nature — subjected to 
every test which His nature was liable to — in the 
same way as we are. 

Thus, He had natural inclinations, e.g., to seek 
rest or popularity or power; and by these He was 
tempted. He also had natural shrinkings, e.g., from 
pain and rejection and death ; and under the influ- 
ence of these He might have been tempted to com- 
promise, to speak smooth things, and so to evade 
danger. 

He was tempted by foes, who sought to entrap 
and entangle Him, and who thus tried His meek 
and lowly spirit ; and by friends, who misunderstood 
Him, and forgot His words, and quarrelled amongst 
themselves, putting thereby His patience and long- 
suffering to a severe test. 

He also was subjected to severe personal onslaughts 
from Satan, w T ho aimed special temptations at Him 
in His peculiar character as " Son of God." 

IV. He suffered being tempted (Heb. ii. 18). This 
fact is emphasised in our Creeds, and we are thus 
secured against the false teaching of some early 

1 Heb. iv. 5. The Greek words are somewhat condensed. They 
do not appear to mean that temptation was to Him exactly the 
same as it was to us, but that there was a resemblance to our 
case in the way in which He was subjected to every class of 
temptation which could assail Him. 



CHRIST AND TEMPTATION, 21 

heretics, who imagined that Christ only put on an 
appearance of suffering. 

His sufferings were no sham ; in fact, no words 
seem strong enough to express them. 

What must it have been to His spotless, sensitive 
soul to dwell among sinful men for a whole genera- 
tion ! If Lot vexed His righteous soul at Sodom, 
what must our Lord have gone through at Nazareth ! 
Then came the daily contact with human suffering 
and sin during the period of the ministry. And 
lastly came Gethsemane, the Sanhedrim, Gabbatha, 
and Golgotha. 

Troubled, sorrowful, amazed, heavy, exceeding 
sorrowful even unto death, subjected to agony, 
bloody sweat, the cross, the passion. What mean 
these expressions if they do not tell us that the 
sufferings of Christ were most real ? 

Thus, if the Lord was unlike us in some respects, 
at least He had no immunity from those ills which 
flesh is heir to. On the contrary, He endured them 
in their utmost intensity. 

Two fruits of our Lord's sufferings are specified in 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, a treatise specially de- 
voted to setting forth the sympathy of our High 
Priest. 

" He learned obedience through the things which 
He suffered.' , * It was a training process, a discipline 

1 Chap. v. 8. 



22 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

which He went through, a testing which brought out 
all that was in Him. Though already a Son by 
nature, and therefore obedient by nature, yet He 
went through the process whereby He developed 
and exhibited human obedience.. He thus presented 
a thorough contrast with Adam, who failed at the 
first test. 

" He was made perfect through suffering." x This 
does not imply that He was in His own nature im- 
perfect before. It teaches us that His natural per- 
fection as Son of God had to be supplemented by 
a human perfection, and that this could only be 
obtained by His going through the fire of sufferings ; 
and when this was accomplished He was fitted to 
become the author or origin of eternal salvation to 
those who give in their allegiance to Him. 

If we turn back to examine the Gospels in the 
light of these passages, we can see in how many 
ways He succeeded where we should have failed. 
We observe how He always and gladly put the rein 
of God's will on His natural desires, so that He could 
say what none else could, " I do always those things 
that please Him " (John viii. 29). Often and often the 
questions must have risen, " Shall I do My own plea- 
sure ? or My duty ? Shall My will or My Father's be 
done ? " Such questions had only to be put and they 
were answered. When weary at the well, when there 

1 Chap. ii. 10. 



CHRIST AND TEMPTATION. 23 

were symptoms of an uprising in His favour, when 
His enemies beset Him, and He was conscious that 
legions of angels might be summoned at a breath, 
He remained steadfast, true, submissive. He con- 
quered when every one else would have succumbed. 

As we review the life of Christ we see what spot- 
lessness means, and we get a nearer view of God's 
righteousness than we can get in any other way. 
The Lord's life had its active side and its passive, 
its habits and its tendencies, but the ruling spirit 
was the same throughout. The first of all the com- 
mandments was written in Christ's heart as in no 
other, and the second commandment, which is like 
to the first, was also written there. In fact, Christ 
proposed Himself to His disciples as an ideal in this 
respect, and as a standard of unselfish love (John 
xiii. 34) ; and it is impossible to doubt that this 
blessed life was what St. Paul had before his mind 
when he drew the portraiture of Charity preserved to 
us in 1 Cor. xiii. 

Wemust not ignore the fact that every life,including 
that of Christ, is made up of a number of little things. 
It is not one great onslaught upon sin, but contains 
daily opportunities for victory or failure. Hence it 
comes to pass that our Lord's life was not one soli- 
tary and decided victory, like David's over Goliath ; 
rather it was a series of victories, culminating in the 
Cross. He was daily overcoming the world, with 



24 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

which He was necessarily in conflict. He was con- 
stantly winning victories over the flesh by refusing 
to gratify every unlawful desire, and from time to 
time He had to face the Evil One himself, and to 
overcome him by boldly resisting his suggestions 
and rejecting his proposals. 

This conflict, though hard, was not esteemed by 
Him as a hardship. He loved righteousness and 
hated iniquity (Heb. i. 9). God's law was a delight 
to Him (Ps. xl. 8) ; and great as were the burdens 
He had to undergo, still greater was the loving 
submission which enabled Him to bear them. 

And so it came to pass that, whilst Christ began 
His earthly life in the position of innocent and un- 
stained human nature, He ended it in a condition of 
tested and perfected manhood. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SINLESS PERFECTION OF CHRIST. 

It may be asked, What special proofs could bo 
given to show that the Lord was absolutely spot- 
less and sinless ? 

Various answers are forthcoming. 1 

I. We have once and again the testimony of the 
Father Himself, that He was well pleased with His 
Son. We may be sure that God did not lower 
the standard of perfect righteousness for the benefit 
of Christ, and thus these utterances from heaven 
are the sure guarantee of the Lord's sinless per- 
fection. 

II. We have the testimony of the apostles. It 
is true they never attempt to draw their Master's 
character; but we may gather from their writings 
the impression it had produced on them. St. Peter 
calls Him the Lamb without blemish and without 
spot, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His 
mouth. St. John says that in Him was no sin. 

1 See the discussion on this subject in Ullmann's " Sinlessness of 
Chiist. ,; 

25 



26 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

In the Epistle to the Hebrews He is described as 
without sin ; and in the Second Epistle to the 
Corinthians, St. Paul says that He knew not sin. 
These deliberate and independent passages convey 
the general impression which all the personal fol- 
lowers of Christ must have felt; and they might 
be confirmed by the somewhat more impulsive but 
concurrent testimony of Judas, Pilate, the penitent 
thief, and the centurion, at the time of our Lord's 
crucifixion. 

III. But perhaps the most notable testimony is 
that offered by our Lord Himself. For, whilst He 
calls all others to repentance, He nowhere speaks 
as one who had need of repentance Himself. He 
never identifies Himself with sinners. In fact, 
He hardly ever uses the word we. He speaks as a 
sinless Visitor to a sinful world ; as God walking 
among men ; as One who was holy, harmless, unde- 
filed, separate from sinners (Heb. vii. 26). This 
witness we believe to be true. 

It has often been pointed out that Christ com- 
bined within Himself certain opposite excellences 
which are rarely found together in ordinary human 
beings. Thus, He was perfectly pure, while showing 
pity to the fallen. He was comprehensive in His 
regard for men, whilst giving personal attention to 
needy cases. He was dignified in His bearing, whilst 
meek in His spirit and behaviour. He was zealous 



THE SINLESS PERFECTION OF CHRIST. 27 

for God's honour, whilst calm and self-possessed in 
His utterances. But all such attempts to analyse 
the moral characteristics of Christ seem to corrie 
short of the truth. He is beyond the reach of the 
ethical analyst. Imitation is better than analysis, 
and is hard enough. We follow afar off; for the life 
of goodness, which was natural and without effort to 
Him, is a struggle to us. There was nothing forced 
about Him. He exhibited the Divine perfections 
within human limitations, as One born to do so. 
And so St. John says, 1 " We beheld His glory, the 
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of 
grace and truth. " We search the world over for 
a perfect man. We turn to the Gospel portraiture, 
and find what we are looking for in Christ. 

The question may now be raised, whether the 
righteousness of Christ was the result of His inborn 
goodness, or whether it was the operation of the 
Eternal Spirit. How is it put in Scripture ? 

Before answering, we must distinguish the special 
gifts of the Spirit from His general operations. We 
are told that the Holy Spirit descended on Christ 
after His Baptism, and we understand that He was 
thus anointed for His mission (Acts x. 38). In this 
sense God gave not the Spirit to Him by measure 
(John iii. 34). The Spirit rested or settled down 
on Him (Isa. xi. 2) for the purposes of His Messianic 

1 John i. 14. 



28 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

Office. And our Lord Himself affirmed, when teach- 
ing in the synagogue of Nazareth, that the grand 
promise contained in the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah 
was fulfilled before the people's eyes in Himself. 

So far we have not an answer to our question, 
which deals with the character rather than with the 
work of Christ. May we say that, apart from special 
ministerial gifts, Christ's resisting power, whereby 
He overcame all temptation, was His own ? 

It is not so put in Scripture. All through the 
Bible the Father is the ultimate source of all that is 
well-pleasing in His children ; and the relationship 
of the Son to the Father, as set forth by Christ 
Himself in the discourses contained in St. John's 
Gospel, is one of absolute and loving dependence. 
We are compelled to believe that the Son was at 
every step dependent on the Father, and that the 
exercise of this dependence was the secret of His 
success. Moreover, we may go a step further, and 
say that if all human righteousness is, in the nature 
of things, the work of the Holy Spirit, then it was 
so in the case of the Man Christ Jesus. And so 
we are told that " through the Eternal Spirit 
He offered Himself without spot to God" (Heb. 
ix. 14). 

But the subject is beyond our comprehension. 
Suffice it to say that, whilst Christians are justified 
through faith in Christ, and by virtue of what He 



THE SINLESS PERFECTION OF CHRIST. 29 

has done for us, He was justified in the Spirit, 1 and 
accounted righteous before God because God saw in 
Him no spot or blemish or any such thing. 

Two things follow from the doctrine of Christ's 
sinless perfection. 

First, Our Lord, if sinless, did not incur the 
penalty for sin. He needed not to die. It was this 
which made it possible for Him to give His life in 
ransom for many. His death was wholly voluntary, 
and it would have been no true sacrifice for the sin 
of the world otherwise. 

Secondly, Our Lord having endured the strain 
of temptation, and having come through it without 
failing, is able both to sympathise with those who 
are going through the same strain, and to help them 
by administering to them the grace which is stored 
up in Himself. 

1 I Tim. iii. 16. 
3 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITION WITH REFERENCE 
TO SIN. 

What is a Christian ? 

The answer given in the Acts of the Apostles 1 is 
that the Christian is a believer. He believes in the 
Person of Christ, and in the Work of Christ. He 
loyally accepts Jesus the Crucified as the Son of 
God, the Saviour of the world, and gives in his 
allegiance to Him. This is faith. He is accepted, 
restored, justified, not because of anything he has 
done or is going to do, but because he is in Christ 
by faith. But a justifying faith is also an operating 
faith. If I take the Lord Jesus to be what He 
says He is, then I must act accordingly ; otherwise 
my faith is " dead, being alone." 2 

What change is effected in our relation to sin, 
on our becoming, in this sense, Christians ? Much 
every way. 

It is true that the Christian is in some respects 

1 Chaps, ii. 44; iv. 32. 2 James ii. 17. 

30 



THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITION. 31 

unchanged. He retains his personal identity. He 
does not cut off the thread of continuous exist- 
ence on becoming a new creature in Christ. As 
Christ remained the same Person when becoming 
man as He was before, so it is with the Christian. 
Moreover, he is still liable to temptation — as Christ 
was. 

Further, he still suffers from the inherited ten- 
dency to go wrong, and from the bad habits to which 
this tendency has given birth. These bad habits it 
must be his business to overcome, but the moral 
gravitation which is frequently called " original sin " 
remains as long as earthly life continues. 

It is important that we should see this clearly and 
hold it fast. In the Ninth Article of the Church 
of England — an Article based on the Confession of 
Augsburg — it is held that the depravation of nature 
and the inclination to evil remains in the renati} 
and that the lusting of the flesh against the spirit 
still has the nature of sin. 

The Eoman Catholic Church denies both of these 
doctrines, and affirms that this original infection of 
our nature is removed from the renati, and that the 

1 This word occurs twice in the Latin Article, and is translated 
in one place "regenerated," in the other "baptized." The word 
regeneration is applied to the baptized on the understanding that 
either they have repented and believed, or that when they come to 
age they will do so. Consequently the Article applies not only to a 
baptized infant, but to a Christian who has consciously and intelli- 
gently believed in Christ. 



32 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

lusting of the flesh against the spirit has not the 
nature of sin any longer. 

The Salvation Army denies that every saved man 
has in him two natures, and holds that the Galatians, 
to whom St. Paul wrote about the flesh lusting 
against the spirit (v. 17), were in a state of back- 
sliding. At the same time, the Salvation Army 
acknowledges that a converted man knows and feels 
that he has in himself tendencies which incline and 
draw him to evil. The authorities of the Army are 
very strong on the fact that the Christian is only one 
person and therefore cannot have two natures, and 
they affirm that the old nature is destroyed on con- 
version — "My old sinful self is put to death;" yet 
they add that " crucifying the affections and lusts 
must refer to a real, daily, practical dying to all 
evil " — words which seem to imply that the death- 
blow given on conversion has not rooted out the 
mischief. See "Doctrines and Discipline of the 
Salvation Army," 188 1. 

In a celebrated sermon by John Wesley on " Sin 
in Believers " the doctrine of the Ninth Article is 
reaffirmed. He says : " This grand point, that there 
are two contrary principles in believers, — nature and 
grace, the flesh and the spirit, — runs through all the 
Holy Scriptures. Almost all the directions and ex- 
hortations therein are founded on this supposition, 
pointing at wrong tempers or practices in believers. 



THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITION. 33 

And they are continually exhorted to fight with and 
conquer these, by the power of the faith which was 
in them. 

Where, then, is the change in the Christian's rela- 
tion to sin ? It lies in two directions — first, in our 
calling, position, or moral attitude ; secondly, in the 
privilege, condition, and power assigned to us. 

I. On giving in our allegiance to Christ, whether 
sacramentally in Baptism, or vitally in repentance 
and faith, there is a distinct transfer of service ; in 
fact, a change of ownership. As the Israelites, after 
being redeemed from Egyptian bondage, belonged to 
God in a special sense and were bound to serve Him, 
so the Christian, on acknowledging his redemption 
by Christ, is bound to obey Him, to follow His steps, 
to be conformed to Him. 

We are Christ's; owned by Him, claimed by 
Him as His servants. We have to fulfil the law of 
Christ (Gal. v. 2), and the mind which was in Christ 
is to be in us (Phil. ii. 5). This conformity to the 
mind of Christ involves the being made conformable 
to His death (Phil. iii. 10). The Lord Jesus was 
crucified, dead, and buried. Consequently we, as 
morally identified with Him, must crucify the flesh ; 
and we have all done it by profession when we were 
baptized (Rom. vi. 3). We are called to be dead * to 

1 Rom. vi. 6 ; Gal. ii. 20, v. 24 ; Eph. i v. 22, v. n ; 1 Pet. ii. 24, 
iv. 1. 



34 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

sin, to mortify the deeds of the body, to put off the 
old man, and to have no fellowship with evil. We 
are thus pledged to be on His side, as against the 
side of His crucifiers, and to identify ourselves with 
the cause which led Him to endure the cross and 
despise the shame (Heb. xii. 2). 

But Christ revived and rose from the dead ; and in 
conformity thereto the Christian, though dead in one 
sense, is called to be alive in another, and to walk 
in newness of life. Thus, whilst we are no longer 
debtors to sin, that we should yield to the lusts of 
the flesh and to the attractions of the world — the 
time past may serve for that — our active powers are 
wholly consecrated to our Deliverer. 

Eesurrection leads to liberation. The edict has 
gone forth, " Loose him and let him go." The 
Christian is called upon to be free, to walk at 
liberty, to be no longer tied and bound with the 
chains of sin, to be emancipated from the thraldom 
of evil habit. He has no right to permit a single bad 
habit, of thought, word, or deed, to remain. He must 
break with all, and put on the new man which after 
God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 1 

So much for the calling of the Christian. It is 
high ; it is holy ; it is heavenly. 

II. The second side of truth springs out of the 
first. Eedemption leads to Restoration. 
1 Eph. iv. 24. 



THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITION. 35 

The Christian is in a position of high privilege. 
He is restored to the true position of sonship, which 
he had lost. He was dead, and is alive again. 1 In 
consequence, he has the spirit of adoption, whereby 
he cries, "Abba, Father." Confidence is restored; 
obedience becomes not only a possibility, but a 
delight; we learn to take pleasure in Him who 
takes pleasure in us ; we walk in imitation of God, 
as dear children (Eph. v. 1) ; we are enabled to be 
without rebuke, blameless, and harmless (Phil. ii. 15). 

It is clear from the whole tenor of Scripture that 
God's restored child is both called and enabled to be 
a righteous man, not a sinner. The message comes 
direct from Christ to every saved soul, " Sin no 
more" (John v. 15). " Awake to righteousness, 
and sin not." 2 It is not only that he is accounted 
righteous through faith in Christ, and that he is 
called to be righteous, but that he is expected to 
be so actually. The real Christian cannot sin; 3 i.e., 
he cannot be living a life of sin. It would be in- 
consistent with his calling, incompatible with his 
position as God's child. Sin is abnormal in his 
case. It is as strange as that a good tree should 
bring forth evil fruit (Matt. vii. 17). Sin is to be 



1 John i. 12 ; Gal. iii. 26. 

2 1 Cor. xv. 34. See also Eph. iv. 26 ; I John ii. I. 

3 1 John iii. 9 ; v. 18. The Greek tense in these and other 
passages indicates a course rather than a single act. 



36 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

regarded as an intruder, and to be driven out by the 
force put at the Christian's disposal (James iv. 7). 

The Christian has a new heart, i.e., a new affection 
and a new impulse ; or, rather, he has returned to the 
original affection and impulse from which he was de- 
prived by the Fall. Drawn by God's love in Christ, 
he has learnt in some degree to love God, and to love 
his neighbour as himself, taking no less a person than 
Christ as as his ideal of true loving-kindness. 

The standard set for the Christian is undeniably 
a high one. The New Testament only gives one 
standard for all Christians. There is no maximum 
and minimum. There is no question of " higher 
Christian life " and " lower Christian life," of being 
partly sanctified and wholly sanctified. The Chris- 
tian, from the moment he becomes one, is called 
upon to be a total abstainer from fleshly lusts (1 
Peter i. 4). The " moderation" spoken of in the New 
Testament is not moderate righteousness coupled 
with moderate sin, but that entire self-control which 
enables us to be kind, gentle, and forbearing in 
dealing with others. Eenunciation is the law of 
life. No one put this in stronger words than our 
Lord, 1 and all the apostolic writers agree. The 
Lord is King, and we must not allow a single thing 
which He forbids. Our allegiance has to be absolute 
and unreserved. 

1 Luke xiv. 26, 27. 



THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITION. 37 

This is a stirring but a humbling subject. It 
makes us all ashamed of ourselves, not only because 
our lives are so different from the life of Christ, but 
also because we fall so far below what we might be, 
and are in this respect self-condemned. It sets us 
questioning, " Am I content with my present posi- 
tion ? Do I follow hard after Christ or only afar 
off? Do I lay aside every weight or only some 
weights ? Have I ceased from sin, or have I kept 
something back ? " We do well to use from time to 
time the ancient petition : l — 

" Search me, God, and know my heart ; 
Try me, and know my thoughts, 
And see if there be any wicked way in me ; 
And lead me in the way everlasting." 

1 Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24. 



CHAPTER VI; 

VICTORY THROUGH THE ACTION OF THE 
SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 

We have seen that our position as the property of 
Christ brings with it certain obligations. But how 
are we to meet them ? By what power is the re- 
stored child of God to carry out the duty imposed 
upon him ? 

Various answers are given. 

The first suggestion that rises to the lips of many 
is, that we shall get what we want through attendance 
at the Means of Grace. Yes ; but we must go further 
back, so as to identify what we mean by Grace. 

Others say that everything depends on our hearts, 
that we must have good motives, and that our lives 
must be animated by right feelings. Yes ; but what 
is a motive ? It is generally understood to be a 
reason why we should act in one way rather than in 
another. It may be drawn from the past, as when 
we say, "The love of Christ constraineth us;" 1 or 
from the future, as when we think of the Second 

1 2 Cor. v. 14. 
38 



VICTORY THROUGH CHRIST. 39 

Coming of the Chief Shepherd and His reward with 
Him ; or from the present, as when we speak of a 
mother's love sustaining her in a night-long watch 
over a sick child. 

Bat, after all, a motive is not a force; it is rather 
something which unlocks a force, and puts us in con- 
nection with it. 

Let us look for illustrations of this important 
distinction. 

In the world of dumb nature there are no motives, 
because there is no consciousness. But there are 
plenty of forces, or rather agents, chemical and 
otherwise. Consider the agencies at work all over 
the world in spring-time, causing the growth of 
plants and the formation or building up of stem, 
bud, flower, seed, each after its kind. We cannot 
make or control these agencies ; all we can do is 
to get the benefit of them by submitting to their 
conditions. 

One of the great forces specially recognised and 
utilised to-day is Electricity. We generate it; we 
store it ; and then by turning a little switch we can 
effect a certain contact. Thus the great force is 
at our control, the lightning becomes audible and 
vocal. Here is an unconscious agency made our 
own by the use of means; but the force is distinct 
from the means. 

I call a dog to me, and he comes. I have my 



40 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

motive for calling him, and he has his for coming; 
but the motive is not the force which actually brings 
him; it simply unlocks the dog's muscular action, 
which enshrines the real force. 

Here is a cotton-mill. Ten thousand bobbins are 
arranged on frames, but all are motionless. At the 
masters word the machine is put into gear, and as if 
by magic the whole factory is alive. What has hap- 
pened ? The force has been there all the time, but 
it was locked up until the machinery was put into 
connection with it at the will of the master. 

We thus see that there may be a very real distinc- 
tion between the motives and the force which they 
set in operation. We must now look behind the 
motives, and see if we can find some great spiritual 
reality sufficient to set human nature right at all 
times and in all places. 

On looking into the Bible, which is the Hand- 
book to the Spirit- World, we find three great truths 
set forth bearing on this subject. 

I. All spiritual force is from God. He is the 
Cause of causes, " the Ultimate of ultimates." If we 
are to be strong, we must be strong in Him, and in 
the power of His might. 1 It is He that works in us 
that which we are to work out (Phil. ii. 13), and 
it is a delight to Him to do it. Every good gift 
and every perfect gift comes from Him. He gives 
1 Eph. vi. 10. 



VICTORY THROUGH CHRIST. 41 

to all men liberally and upbraideth not (James i. 17). 
It is He that works in us that which is well- pleasing 
in His own sight (Heb. xiii. 20, 21). "God hath 
spoken once; twice have I heard this, that power 
belongeth unto God." x This is one of the great 
lessons in the Old Testament. It is written at large 
in the history of Israel. It is reproduced in the New 
Testament in the Gospel story. 

II. The Spiritual Force of God is stored up in 
Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily ; and His riches are inexhaustible. 2 
Apart from Him we can do nothing (John xv. 5). 
Not only His Word must dwell in us. That is a 
matter of obedience on our part. But He Himself 
must dwell in us. That is a matter of constant rein- 
forcement on His part. To know this is to pass from 
natural religion to revealed, and from death unto life. 
The Christian is called upon to be filled with the 
fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, 
unto the glory and praise of God, 3 and God is pre- 
pared to supply all our needs according to His riches 
in glory by Christ Jesus} 

Our Lord's miracles are almost all intended to 
illustrate this truth. He is set forth in them as not 
only the pardoner and the cleanser, but also as the 
liberator, the tamer, the transformer, the vitaliser, 

1 Ps. lxii. 11. 2 Col. i. 19; ii. 9. 

3 Phil. i. 11. 4 Phil. iv. 19. 



42 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

the invigorator. We sometimes lose the force of 
these picture-lessons by forgetting that the Lord's 
deeds of beneficence always tended to make men 
better members of society, more useful, more active ; 
whilst they also impressed on those who benefited 
by them the duty of allegiance to the Lord Himself. 

III. The spiritual force thus stored up in Christ 
is brought into our very being and becomes our own 
through the agency of the Holy Spirit, who is ours 
through faith in Christ. Thus, faith brings us within 
reach of the special agency of the Spirit of Christ. 
So we read (Phil. i. 19) of the supply of the Spirit 
of Jesus Christ; i.e., of that which the Spirit of 
Christ supplies. The fruit of righteousness is called 
the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. v. 22; Eph. v. 9). It is 
through the Spirit that we mortify the deeds of the 
body (Rom. viii. 13), and it is as many as are led, 
actuated, by the Spirit of God, that are the sons of 
God (Rom viii. 14). 

See what a mystery is here ! Human action and 
Divine grace so intermingled, and so harmonised, 
that we know not where one begins and the other 
ends. The man walks, but it is in the Spirit (Gal. 
v. 16, 18). He does not generate the force, but he 
uses it. It is not his own, but it is for him. He is 
like the engineer who neither pulls nor pushes the 
engine in which he rides, but moves a handle which 
causes the steam to act on the machinery, and so to 



VICTORY THROUGH CHRIST. 43 

bear hiin along. So St. Paul says, u Not I, but the 
grace of God that was with me" (1 Cor. xv. 10); 
and again, " I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
me" (Gal. ii. 20). 

This work of the Spirit is not only initial, but con- 
tinuous. As in the spring-time growth and formation 
proceed mainly from the same force, so it is with the 
Christian. The life is developed and made Christ-like, 
and many sorts of fruits are brought forth through 
the agency of one and the self-same Spirit, Who 
never ceases to energise, provided only that we de- 
pend upon and yield to His influence. 

We now see clearly what St. Paul means when he 
tells us to walk, to fight, to put off, to put on, to be 
renewed, to be transformed, &c. We are to yield 
ourselves to the loving and gracious operation of the 
Spirit, and in His strength to fulfil the obligations 
laid upon us. It is our duty to serve Christ per- 
fectly (Luke xvii. 10). It is our privilege to be 
enabled to serve Him, through the abiding presence 
of His Spirit (1 John iii. 24). 

A serious and practical question here presses 
itself upon our attention. The Christian life is 
manifestly an arduous undertaking. Evil is both 
strong and subtle. There is mischief within and 
without. Is the force which God puts at our dis- 
posal adequate for the work which has to be done ? 

An engineer who is entrusted with the building 



44 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

of a bridge, and with the construction of a reservoir, 
has to make careful calculations in order to determine 
what resisting power he must provide to overcome 
the pressure and hard usage which his constructions 
will meet with. The power of our engines is mea- 
sured off against the pulling or carrying energy of a 
horse ; and they are never supposed to do quite so 
much work as their " horse " power justifies. 

How is it in the case of the resistant and active 
force put at man's disposal by God? Is there 
enough for the work ? The answer seems to lie 
here : Christ has fought the battle, and knows what 
force is needed. The power which worketh in us is 
His, and it is sufficient (2 Cor. xii. 7) ; whilst its 
nature is inconceivable, its depths are inexhaustible 
(Eph. iii. 20). " Greater is He that is in you than 
he that is in the world" (1 John iv. 4). Sin, then, 
is conquerable, and Satan may be resisted (James iv. 
7). God is faithful, and with every temptation will 
make a way of escape (1 Cor. x. 13). It may be 
taken as absolutely certain that there is in Christ 
sufficient spiritual force for every Christian at all 
times and under all circumstances. Our business is 
to use it, and for this we are responsible. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CHIEF MEANS USED BY THE SPIRIT TO 
SECURE OUR VICTORY OVER SIN. 

The Christian has the promise and potency for 
victory ; but he must fight. There is no victory 
without conflict. The blessings are for him that 
overcometh. 

If we wish the devil to flee we must resist him, 
i.e., stand up against him. 1 Our antagonism against 
sin must be unto the death, or, as the writer of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews says, unto blood. 2 St. Peter 
tells us that we have to arm ourselves with the 
mind of Christ if we would deal successfully with 
the fleshly lusts which war against the soul (i Peter 
iv. I ; ii. u) ; and St. Paul urges us to put on the 
armour of light, the panoply of God (Rom. xiii. 12 ; 
Eph. vi. 10). Above all, we must learn to obey, to 
yield, to submit to the will of God, instantly, un- 
grudgingly, gladly (Rom. xii. 1, 2 ; I Peter i. 14,15). 

The case is somewhat similar to that of Israel 
in old days. They had the promise of Canaan, and 

1 James iv. 7. 2 Heb. xii. 4. 

45 4 



46 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

the guaranteed presence of God ; but they had to 
fight. It was not enough to know that the captain 
of the Lord's host was on their side. They must 
enter personally into the engagement, otherwise the 
promises would be worse than useless. 

Some seem to think that Christians may advance 
so far that they get beyond the reach of the enemy. 
The conflict is over, and they have entered into full 
peace in this life. Success is regarded by them 
as a lower condition, and willing subjection to God 
without an effort as a higher one, being analogous 
to the condition of angelic service. 1 

It will be found, however, after making due allow- 
ance for exceptional cases and peculiar temperaments, 
that this teaching does not accord with the general 
experience of Christians ; nor does it seem to be 
in agreement with the main drift of the New Testa- 
ment. The Christian has peace with God, but he 
has no peace with the devil. He has seasons of rest, 
but not of security. He is secure in conflict, but 
not from conflict. Christ was left by Satan "for 
a season;" and we must be thankful for similar 
seasons of rest. 

We are not all of the same calibre. Some go 

i On this subject see A. Knox's "Kemains," vol. i. p. 318, on 
Mysticism. He traces it from the days of Clement of Alexandria 
(third cent. A.D.) onwards to Fenelon, Law, and Tauler, and recog- 
nises that their high ideal was very needful, even if somewhat 
exaggerated. 






MEANS TO SECURE VICTORY OVER SIN. 47 

through much more conflict than others, owing to 
their hard nature, their stubborn will, their old sins, 
their lost opportunities. But let no one say, " I have 
passed beyond the reach of the enemy." " Let him 
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." 

The grace of victory is not given once for all. 
We have — if our faith is a living one — an assured 
position in Christ. We may read our title clear to 
mansions in the sky ; but God's sustaining power 
is needed daily. His mercies are new, and are 
necessary, every morning. This is God's method of 
training His children in habits of faith and obedience. 
He is sure to do all that is wise and right to keep 
us from falling, 1 but we must daily and hourly use 
the means, continuing in the faith, keeping our- 
selves in the sunshine of the love of God, 2 and 
laying fresh hold of eternal life. 3 The Christian is 
not wound up like a clock, and made to run for 
a week at a time ; he is more like a plant, and 
needs the continual dew of God's blessing. 

When we come to inquire into the means used 
by the Spirit to ensure our success in spiritual 
conflict, we have to consider, first, the grace which 
the Spirit has to bestow ; and, secondly, the method 
in which that grace acts on the recipient. 

I. The Spirit works specially through the presen- 
tation of the Lord Jesus to our hearts. We are 

1 Jude 24. 2 Jude 21. 3 I Tim. vi. 12. 



48 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

running a race, and it is our business as we run 
not to look down, nor to look about us, but to look 
off, in a fixed direction, unto Jesus. We have to 
" consider Him " (Heb. xii. 2, 3). Our zeal and love 
are to be stimulated by the thought of His love to 
us on the Cros$. We labour and persevere in anti- 
cipation of His Second Coming. We gather encour- 
agement from the conviction that His eye is over 
us and His arm beneath us. Thus He Who was, 
and is, and is to come, is brought home to us by the 
Holy Ghost. He is our Good Shepherd, our High 
Priest, our Advocate with the Father, the Eock on 
which we build, our Manna, our Light. 

Do we need a moral transformation ? As we gaze 
on Him we are changed, through the Spirit's agency 
(2 Cor. iii. 8). Whilst our mind is occupied with 
Him, our heart is impressed and our character i§ 
affected. This is the law of spiritual growth. 

The Spirit presents the Lord Jesus to us, as 
our mark, our aim, our example, our living Head. 
We might draw much more from Him than we do. 
It is a great thing to receive pardon and peace 
through His blood; it is a greater thing to have 
our feelings, wishes, and aims cleansed from all that 
is impure and unselfish through- personal contact 
with Him ; and most wonderful of all that His 
strength should be made perfect in our weakness. 1 

1 2 Cor. ii. 9. 



MEANS TO SECURE VICTORY OVER SIN. 49 

There are two special gains to the soul from this 
method of developing its life. 

First, we are thus being trained for the spirit- 
world. The Holy Ghost is sometimes called " the 
Spirit of truth," i.e., the Spirit whereby the realities 
of the unseen world become real to us. The con- 
centration of our gaze on the ascended Saviour is 
good for us — better than if He had remained on 
earth. We are taught to love One whom we have 
never seen ; * and we are reminded of the blessing on 
those who have not seen and yet have believed. 2 

Far better, more effectual than picture, crucifix, 
or image, is the impression produced on the inner 
man through the daily presentation of Christ to the 
soul by the Holy Ghost. 3 It is our business to look. 
It is the Spirit's business to present. 

Secondly, as we contemplate Christ day by day in 
this deliberate and fixed manner, God both creates 
and satisfies that hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness which is one of the marks of His children. 

No one can take the Lord Jesus as his ideal with- 
out becoming dissatisfied with himself. We desire 
to become like Him ; we purify ourselves even as He 
is pure ; we yearn after His approval ; we follow 

1 I Peter i. 8. 2 John xx. 29. 

3 " I am sure that the New Testament of our Saviour Jesus 
Christ, containing the word of life, is a more lively, express, and true 
image of our Saviour than all carved, graven, molten, and painted 
images in the world," &c. (Homily against Peril of Idolatry). 



50 . THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

after holiness, without which we cannot look upon 
His face. And as His. goodness attracts us, so it 
penetrates us ; we reflect something of what we see in 
Him, and we are satisfied (not self-satisfied) whilst 
drinking out of the abundance which He supplies. 

Turning our attention to the persons on whom 
the Spirit acts, the great truth, and one most im- 
portant to be grasped, is this, that the Spirit works 
through the natural faculties of man, which He 
inspires and invigorates for a higher life. He makes 
use of every worthy faculty in the human being, as 
He did in Christ. The faculties, which are part of 
our original constitution, and which have degenerated 
through the Fall, are not changed or done away with, 
but are inspired, energised, and so developed through 
the Spirit's action. 

All that we receive has to be used. Hence the 
Apostle says, " As ye have received Christ Jesus the 
Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Col. ii. 6); and again, 
"Exercise thyself unto godliness" (i Tim. iv. 7). 
The spirit of love, purity, contentment, lowliness, 
submission, and all else that we see in Christ has to 
be developed in us by exercise. It is easy to read 
a book of instructions on how to swim, how to ride, 
how to conjure ; but we must practise these things 
if we want to master them ; and what looks hard at 
first becomes easy through practice. We must not 
be content with a paper Christianity, or with a metal 



MEANS TO SECURE VICTORY OVER SIN. 51 

cross. We have to act ; no talking, reading, listening, 
meditating, can be a substitute for action. It may 
be quite an effort at first to keep back an unkind 
word, to refrain from exaggeration, to spend on 
others what we had thought of spending on our- - 
selves, or even to drink a glass of water instead of a 
glass of wine; but these things become habitual by- 
diligent and watchful practice. It was not without 
reason that Christ told His disciples to take up the 
cross, and to do it daily. We need not wind our- 
selves up very high in this matter ; amidst the little 
things of daily life we find plenty of 

u Room to deny ourselves, a road 
To bring us daily nearer God." 

If we are faithful in little things, God will find us 
greater things to do, for " to him that hath shall 
more be given." 

No one speaks more strongly on the need of dili- 
gence and self-discipline than St. Paul. When he 
says, " I keep under my body, and bring it into sub- 
jection/' 1 he adopts words such as a Greek athlete 
would have used. When he tells Timothy to exer- 
cise himself unto godliness, 2 he borrows a word 
from the gymnasium. We have to run as in a race, 
and to be temperate, self-controlled in all things, as 

1 I Cor. ix. 27. 2 1 Tim. iv. 7. 



52 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

those are who are going to row in the Oxford and 
Cambridge boat-race. 

This illustration, however, has one serious defect. 
The training of rival crews is wholly intended to 
prepare for one particular race on a certain day, 
but in spiritual things the training is part of the 
race. We are daily running, racing, fighting, endur- 
ing hardness, wrestling; we are daily winning or 
losing. 

We gather that the Divine method is this: the 
Holy Spirit influencing us in a Christ- ward direction, 
through the presentation of Christ ; drawing, leading, 
but not forcing us; impelling, propelling, but not 
compelling us; and in proportion as we avail our- 
selves of His influence, we conquer ; as we use, we 
grow. And so we understand the words of St. 
Peter, 1 " Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 

1 2 Peter iii. 18. • 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SUPPLEMENTARY AIDS TO HOLY LIVING. 

With a view to the development of the Christian 
life, God has put at our disposal certain supple- 
mentary agencies which work in harmony and in 
conjunction with the main forces just set forth. 

I. The first of these is the Word. This, in fact, 
is what the Holy Spirit uses as the material for the 
presentation of Christ. " Let the word of Christ 
dwell in you richly " (Col. iii. 16). By this is to 
be understood what St. Paul calls elsewhere " the 
truth as it is in Jesus" (Eph. iv. 21). It is en- 
shrined in the written records of the apostles and 
prophets of the New Testament. St. James describes 
it as the Word of truth, which is able to save our 
souls (James i. 19-22); and St. Peter calls it the 
Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever 
(1 Peter i. 23). 

The Christian is called to be a student of the in- 
spired writings, to seek the spirit within the letter, 
and so to get hold of the truth concerning the 

nature, mission, and practical precepts of his Lord 

53 



54 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

and Master. If it was true of the Old Testament 
Scriptures that they were given by Divine inspira- 
tion, and were profitable for instruction in righteous- 
ness, and able to make wise unto salvation through 
faith in Christ, 1 much more is it true in the case of 
that collection of authoritative writings which we 
call the New Testament. 

Few things are more helpful in practical life than 
a habit of daily reading, with prayer and considera- 
tion, a short passage bearing on the life, work, and 
teaching of Christ. Some read too little, and others 
perhaps too much. A man who is content with read- 
ing his chapter, and not content with less, might 
sometimes do better by subdividing that chapter into 
some half-dozen portions. It is not what we read, but 
what we inwardly digest, which does us good ; and 
if we can get one specific truth from Scripture lodged 
in our minds each day we shall do well. Most of us 
are very busy people, much occupied with the affairs 
of this life, and we need to make a special effort in 
order to keep alive in our hearts the great truths 
concerning God and eternity. The Scriptures are 
God's special provision for this purpose. Joshua was 
exhorted to meditate on the Law day and night 
(Joshua i. 8) ; and David says that this is one of the 
secrets of a godly and prosperous life (Ps. i. 2, 3 ; 
compare 1 Kings ii. 3). 

1 2 Tim. iii. 17. 



AIDS TO H$LY LIVING. 55 

IT. Another aid to right living is Prayer, with 
which thanksgiving should always be coupled. As 
the Word brings God to the soul, so Prayer brings 
the soul to God. It is the realisation of our depend- 
ence on an unseen Father ; the recognition of His 
providential care and willingness to help in time of 
need ; the humbling of ourselves before Him in wor- 
ship, praise, confession, and petition ; the pouring out 
of our souls before Him who regards every single one 
of us as having become His child, through faith in 
Christ Jesus. 

St. Paul says, " Continue in prayer, and watch 
in the same with thanksgiving." 1 What excellent 
advice ! Continuance in prayer, perseverance when 
inclined to give it up, watchfulness against wander- 
ing thoughts, — these are most necessary, and (must 
we not confess it?) most difficult; but the adjunct, 
11 with thanksgiving," makes the precept more easy, 
for thanksgiving adds wings to the soul. 

A remembrance of all we have received, and of all 
which is secured to the Christian in Christ, is a mar- 
vellous stimulus to prayer. It develops the longing 
to become Christ-like, to meet with the Master's ap- 
probation, and to purify oneself, even as He is pure. 
To pray in Christ's Name seems to involve this. It 
is not the mere introduction of His Name at the end 
of our prayers, nor only the recognition of His priestly 

1 Col. iv. 2. 



56 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

intercession in heaven. It involves the determina- 
tion to live in His way, and to exercise a Christ-like 
spirit in daily life. There are many kinds of prayer 
and ways of praying, but universal Christian experi- 
ence testifies that without secret prayer our inner 
life loses its vitality, and our outer life its force. 
We may still have a name to live, but we are in 
God's sight dead. 1 A prayerless life is a Christless 
life, and no amount of attendance on services or 
prayer-meetings will make up for the lack of secret 
approach to our Father when none else is near. The 
aged Daniel entered his chamber, opened his window 
towards Jerusalem, and kneeled upon his knees three 
times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his 
God. This had been his custom. 2 No wonder that 
God was with him in prosperity and in adversity. 
And it is written for our instruction. 

III. Life, however, has a social side, and God has 
provided us with helps adapted for this side also. 

Godly parents, Christian friends, wise teachers, 
and faithful ministers of Christ — what helps these 
are ! No believer in Christ ought to be, or need be, 
an isolated atom. Christians are a brotherhood, a 
community. 3 " AH ye are brethren." The Epistles 
abound with hints and suggestions on the carrying 

1 Rev. iii. I. 2 Dan. vi. 10. 

3 The German word for a Church — Gemeine — gives this idea 
excellently. 



AIDS TO HOLY LIVING. 57 

out of this idea. The early Christians seem to have 
been much less reserved, owing partly to their tem- 
perament and partly to their circumstances, than 
the ordinary English believers. They held converse 
together on their common faith, life, and hope, com- 
forting and encouraging one another, and having a 
strong social element in their Christian life. We 
are sadly stiff, reserved, and unsociable, though 
great efforts are being made in various ways to re- 
produce the social element in our Christian life. 

The strengthening of the brotherly tie among 
Christians is, doubtless, one of the intents of the two 
sacraments ordained by Christ. 

We are baptized primarily into Christ, but secon- 
darily into the body (1 Cor. xii. 13). The Lord's 
Supper is primarily a special opportunity for 
" feeding upon Christ in our hearts by faith with 
thanksgiving." But it is also a time for pardoning 
offences, for healing sores, for re-establishing har- 
mony between neighbours, and for bringing together 
Christians of all ranks and temperaments. It seems 
unfortunate that the ar/apce were discontinued ; but 
perhaps by means of communicants' unions we may 
return to the original idea and attain to more 
brotherly love and recognition. 

Common worship tends in the same direction. We 
thank God with one heart and voice for His gifts ; we 
sing His praises unitedly, glorifying Him with one 



58 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

mind and mouth, 1 and at the same time kindling our 
sympathy with the main body of Christians through- 
out the world. Every congregation is a branch of 
a larger community, and every earthly and visible 
community of Christians forms part of that aggre- 
gate of communities which we call the Catholic 
Church. This, again, is a real, though only an 
imperfect and inadequate, representation of the one 
true Church which is the body of Christ, and which 
is gradually being built up and prepared by the 
Spirit against the day of u the manifestation of the 
sons of God/' Owing to our ignorance of what was 
original and essential in matters of ritual and church 
order, it seems hopeless to look for unity of orga- 
nisation, but every attempt to unite Christian com- 
munities in joint action where they can co-operate 
without compromising their convictions ought to be 
cherished, for it exhibits the unity of the Spirit. 
It must be right for us to unite in social and 
philanthropic schemes, in Bible circulation, and 
in the evangelisation of the masses, even though 
we cannot build up our churches on the same 
lines. 

These, then, are some of the ways in which the 
Spirit ordinarily works in persons and in communi- 
ties. A bare outline only has been given; and if it 
had been filled up with details we should yet have 

1 Rom. xv. 6. 



AIDS TO HOLY LIVING. 59 

to confess that He has not restricted Himself to any 
of these operations. 

There are many things which cannot be classified, 
and some that cannot even be put into words. The 
wind bloweth where it listeth ; and the Spirit reaches 
us, touches, impresses, draws, and haunts us at 
sundry times and in divers manners, making known 
the Lord Jesus to the soul, and speaking of His sur- 
passing love and goodness, without witnesses and 
without words. 

It has been said that " to adjust in practice the 
true use of means without putting them in the place 
of Christ on the one hand, or neglecting them on 
the other hand, is one of the most difficult problems 
of Christian experience," and that, in order to get 
the true help which means were designed to give, 
" the Christian must, in the first place, indepen- 
dently of all means, be brought to be in the hands 
of his Saviour as clay in the hands of the potter." 1 
These words may seem to some to savour of ex- 
aggeration or of mysticism, but they present the 
true order. We must come to Christ as to the 
Fountain, and the " means " are the vessels whereby 
we draw and drink the waters of life. The vessel 
is not a substitute for the Fountain. In life, as in 
Baptism, we put on nothing less than Christ. In 
the Holy Communion we feed on nothing less than 

1 Joseph Milner's " Essentials of Christianity." 



6o THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

Him, in our hearts, by faith. All internal faculties 
and feelings, external ministrations, and social in- 
fluences may be utilised in our conflict with sin and 
in our growth in holiness; but they are effectual 
only so far as they help us to keep in touch with 
the Author of all salvation. The sword, shield, and 
other weapons used in the conflict with sin need to 
be anointed daily with fresh oil, and to be used in 
the strength of the Holy Spirit and for the glory of 
Christ. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CAUSES OF FAILURE. 

It will be gathered from what has now been advanced 
that whilst sin is a great power and a great enemy, 
yet the Christian is both called and enabled to over- 
come. God surrounds him with good influences, 
incites him with healthy motives, and empowers him 
with spiritual force. Consequently, the moral con- 
dition of the Christian ought to be one of victory ; and 
failure ought to be an exception. This is his ideal, 
and his truly normal condition. He is victorious 
just so far as he is faithful. His life is a course of 
successes through faith. Xo longer a slave to sin, no 
longer dead in sin, he walks at liberty, in newness 
of spiritual life. Christ has emancipated him from 
the thraldom of selfishness, and so has saved him 
from himself. If he is overtaken in a fault (Gal. 
vi. l) 3 this at any rate should be an exceptional case. 

Such appears to be the plain teaching of Scrip- 
ture. 

But does the average Christian live up to this 
ideal ? Let each man answer for himself. Some may 

61 5 



62 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

be found to say, " Yes, I do ; " but others (are they not 
the majority?) utter the sad confession, "No, I do not/' 

Now, where does the fault lie ? Have we misinter- 
preted the Scripture ? Have we raised false expec- 
tations ? Search and see. 

Is it that God's power is not exercised now with 
the same effect as in the days of St. Paul ? that the 
age of perfect victory has gone away with the age of 
miracles ? Has lapse of time made effectual grace 
unnecessary ? 

Have we misunderstood the laws of growth ? or 
have we expected daily and constantly in this life 
that success which is only to be obtained when we 
enter into glory ? 

Or is the fault in ourselves ? Is it that we have 
undervalued the present power of the Lord Jesus to 
save ? that while seeking pardon we have not reached 
up to Christ for full salvation from the power of sin ? 
that we have sought cleansing from the guilt of sin, 
rather than from the stain which it leaves on our 
moral being, and from the weakness which it induces 
in our moral action ? Is it that we have not daily 
taken up the cross and renewed our allegiance to 
Christ, saying as we do so, " Vouchsafe, Lord, to 
keep us this day without sin " ? 

The fault evidently lies in this direction. It is 
not in God, but in ourselves ; and when we press the 
matter further home we shall usually find that our 



CAUSES OF FAILURE. 63 

failures are due to one thing. When the apostles 
failed in casting an evil spirit out of the boy, they 
were told that the secret of their defeat lay in their 
unbelief, and that the secret of success lay in faith. 
Surely this word was spoken for all time. It drives 
us to question ourselves thus : Do we believe, in any 
real sense? Is our faith of the kind and quality which 
the Lord looks for in us ? Does it work ? Why have 
we not more of it ? In searching for answers to these 
important questions we cannot but observe certain 
infirmities in our nature which beset us constantly, 
and which have a great deal to do with our failure. 

I. One is ignorance. We are hemmed in all 
round with every kind of limitation. The wisest 
know only in part ; most of us have very little realisa- 
tion of the unseen world and of things eternal. St. 
Paul constantly prays for his converts that they may 
be more enlightened concerning Christ. 1 How little 
we know about Him ! Again, we are exceedingly 
ignorant of the nature and extent of sin, and of what 
Christ requires of us. The Christian needs to " under- 
stand what the will of the Lord is " (Eph. v. 17), what 
the devices of Satan are (2 Cor. ii. 11), and what 
their own deficiencies are (Rev. iii. 17, 18). It is 
lack of knowledge on these subjects that makes 
people say such strange things about sin as one 
sometimes hears of. Many persons confuse sin with 
l E.g. t Eph. i. 17. 



64 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

the consciousness of sin. This leads them to say, " I 
have not sinned for a week or a month." They might 
as well say they have not winked their eyes for a 
week or a month. Memory and consciousness are 
by no means infallible witnesses, whether in things 
physical or in things spiritual. It is a dangerous 
thing to say we have not sinned. It would imply 
that we have done exactly what Christ would have 
done if He had been in our position. Who would 
venture to say this ? St. Paul said that he knew 
nothing against himself, i.-e., his conscience acquitted 
him, 1 but he knew that this did not justify him. 
God sets our secret sins in the light of His counte- 
nance. Divine photography can bring out personal 
defects which the human eye cannot see. We need 
to walk humbly. If we were more instructed in the 
way of righteousness, e.g., in the force of the precepts 
given in the Sermon on the Mount, we should say 
no longer, u I am not as other men are," but rather, 
" God be merciful to me a sinner." In other words, 
our knowledge of God's demands would draw out 
our sense of weakness and sin ; this would make a 
new call upon us to exercise faith in Christ ; and 
the exercise of our faith would ensure us the presence 
of the Spirit, through Whom alone we can conquer. 
Let us daily stoop down and have a good look into 

1 I Cor. iv. 4. He was probably speaking not absolutely, but 
with reference to his ministry. 



CA USES OF FAILURE. 65 

"the Law of Liberty," 1 as embodied in Christ. This 
will help us into the pathway of victory. 

II. Another infirmity which we must be prepared 
for as long as we are in the flesh is indolence. We 
know, but we are sluggish in action. No attentive 
reader of the Epistles can fail to notice how fre- 
quently the writers use whip and spur to keep people 
up to the mark. Be diligent, strive, labour, gird up 
the loins of your mind, run, contend, — this class of 
admonition is frequent. It is not only that there 
is a natural vis inert ice in us, and that the most 
advanced Christian is subject to it, and needs to re- 
cognise and contend against it, but also that we are 
going up-stream, and if we stop we go back. Note 
the marks of this infirmity. We are slow in looking 
up to God, sluggish in prayer ; we forget to intercede 
for others ; we are indolent in the use of time ; we 
lack decision and thoroughness ; we neglect to set 
Christ daily before our face, and to assume a watch- 
ful attitude towards the world, the flesh, and the 
devil. So, also, in working out our salvation (Phil, 
ii. 12) we are not careful enough to maintain good 
works (Tit. iii. 8, 14), which are the results of the 
energising of the Holy Ghost working in us. Where 
the spirit is willing the flesh is weak ; and the spirit 
itself is lethargic, having lost its first love. We let 
ourselves drift down the stream of selfishness; we 

1 James i. 25. 



66 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

get faint in our conflict with the evils of the world, 
and become weary in well-doing. We give up too 
soon. Our intensity evaporates. Our earnestness is 
soon spent. Our services for the good of others 
become perfunctory, inferior in quality if not less in 
quantity, lacking that true sympathy without which 
all work is vain. 

Thus, our standard of life is insensibly lowered. 
We are like children who copy their own writing 
instead of following the copy at the top of the page. 

All this both springs from and is the cause of un- 
belief. If our faith were stronger and more constant 
we should not be so lethargic ; and because we are 
lethargic we do not exercise true and living faith. 
The Christian ought to abound more and more in all 
good things, but he is a creature of habit, he has 
stereotyped prayers, expressions, acts of charity, and 
it is a great exertion for him to break up the fallow 
ground. But he ought to m^ke the exertion, how- 
ever dead he feels, in the strength of Him who raised 
up Christ from the dead. 

III. A third infirmity, closely related to the other 
two, is inattention, a lack of observation. This shows 
itself in many ways. 

The two disciples going to Emmaus were rebuked 
for not having observed all the things which the 
prophets had recorded. They had unwittingly passed 
over a whole series of passages which had to do with 



CA USES OF FA IL URE. 67 

the sufferings of the Messiah, and had fixed their 
attention only on those which related to the glory 
which was to follow. The sword of the Spirit is a 
two-edged one, and we must read watchfully. Pro- 
mises and commands must be taken together; our 
privileges must influence our practice. Much has 
been done for us ; but much has also to be done in 
us. We are dead to sin, but are called upon to 
mortify the deeds of the body ; we " cannot sin/' yet 
we are exhorted not to sin ; 1 we have put off the old 
man, but we are told to put off his deeds; we have 
put on the new man, but we are told to put on the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Inattention to the two sides of 
truth often leads to false security. Some Christians 
think that they have nothing to do. They forget 
that they are under training for eternity, and that 
all training implies action. How often do the words, 
" Take heed," " Let no man deceive you/' and similar 
expressions ring out in the New Testament ! We 
have to walk circumspectly. Peter's fall is not re- 
corded in all four Gospels without reason. Does a man 
say, " I am strong ; I am restored ; I have too much 
self-respect to sin ; my habits are too fixed to make 
such a thing possible ; I am sheltered from evil by 
my position, my surroundings " ? Well, these are 
good things, and we may thank God for them, but 
they do not afford absolute security. Take heed. 

1 1 John iii. 9 ; ii. 1. 



68 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

Inattention to little things is a fruitful source of 
failure. Most of Christ's precepts apply to our con- 
duct in little things and in everyday life, touching 
either on our social duties or on the regulation of 
our thoughts and desires. The precepts, for example, 
concerning " respect of persons," or concerning the 
use of the tongue, or concerning the desires of the 
flesh, cannot safely be forgotten for any twenty- four 
hours of our existence. As one meditates on them, 
one echoes the Psalmist's words: — 

w Who can tell how oft he offendeth ] 
Cleanse Thou me from my secret faults." 

Thus our slowness to take in all sides of truth, and to 
recognise its bearings on daily life, must be reckoned 
upon as one of the factors in our unbelief. We are 
" slow of heart to believe all." 

The infirmities to which attention has now been 
directed are partly physical, partly spiritual. They 
exist in various degrees in all Christians. They are 
of the nature of sin* but do not bring us necessarily 
under condemnation. God knows our infirmities, 
and remembers we are but dust. 1 If He were ex- 
treme to mark what is done amiss, who could stand ? 

Their presence in us supplies some answer to the 
pressing question put above — Why do we not exercise 
better faith and more of it ? They account also for 

1 Ps. cjii. 14. 



CAUSES OF FAILURE. 69 

the fact that those who do exercise faith consciously 
and daily acknowledge that they are sinners in God's 
sight, and that in many things they offend. 

Some Christians, however, even while recognising 
that they are compassed with infirmities, do not like 
to call themselves sinners, especially miserable sin- 
ners. They do not like to say with the writer of 
the 119th Psalm, "I have erred and strayed like a 
lost sheep; seek Thy servant, for I do not forget 
Thy commandments/' x They say that for a real 
Christian to call himself a sinner is to dishonour 
God, and to ignore the salvation of Christ. The 
objection assumes various forms. 

That coming short which some of us call sin 
others regard as to be accounted for by the laws of 
growth. The immature Christian (they say) is not 
sinful because he is immature ; give him time and 
he will be matured, i.e., perfected. Even St. Paul 
was not in this sense perfected. 2 

Is, then, the Christian in no sense responsible for 
his immaturity ? We can hardly say that. In re- 
gard to physical growth, our Lord reminds us that 
we cannot add a cubit to our stature ; but is it so 
with regard to spiritual growth ? How can this be 
when we are ordered to grow (2 Peter iii. 18), to in- 
crease more and more (1 Thess. iv. 1), to abound in 
every good work (2 Cor. viii. 7) ? 

1 Verse 176. 2 Phil. iii. 12. 



70 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

Growth must be partly in our hands, even though 
it is regulated by fixed conditions ; and if we have 
failed to grow, if our spiritual life is stunted, if our 
spiritual stature is dwarfed, we must not lightly 
exonerate ourselves and throw the blame on God. 
Perhaps we have not yielded ourselves to the con-^ 
ditions which God has imposed. There are no signs 
of St. Paul having thrown the blame of his short- 
comings on God. At the same time there may be 
reasons, general and special, under God's control, 
which hinder us from possessing or exercising strong 
faith. God does not give the same measure to all. 

Again, it is said that failure to reach the highest 
Christian standard is not sin. It is simply imper- 
fection, and is not blameworthy. We cannot all be 
supposed to reach the same high level. 

There is no justification for such a view as this in 
Scripture. "All unrighteousness is sin. ,, Can any 
Christian say, "I am as good as Christ"? Ought 
not every Christian to aim at being as good as 
Christ? Between the negative answer to the first 
of these questions and the positive answer to the 
second lies sin. If I am not absolutely Christ-like 
I sin, and need cleansing, though it does not neces- 
sarily follow that I am under condemnation. In a 
letter from Augustine to Jerome (No. 167), he points 
out that so long as our goodness is capable of in- 
crease we come short, and cannot be justified by 



CAUSES OF FAILURE. 71 

our own doings, and need to say, " Forgive us our 
debts." 

Something must be said, however, on the other 
side. It is not a good thing to use exaggerated 
expressions about sin in believers. If, on the one 
hand, we must not affirm that any Christian is 
sinless; on the other, we must not assert that all 
Christians are equally sinful, or always so. 

Exaggerated expressions savour of unreality, and 
lead to discouragement and unbelief. Every Chris- 
tian may say, " I am vile in myself, apart from the 
Spirit which worketh in me." In this sense he can 
use the latter half of the 7th of the Romans, which 
indicates the condition of a man who desires to do 
right, but who is not exercising the conquering 
power of the Spirit of Christ. He may say, " There 
is sin in all I do of myself," but he cannot say, 
" There is sin in all which God does in me." 

When the Christian lapses, he falls back upon 
himself; when he stands, he stands in Christ ; and 
so far as he stands, he is not sinful, but is pleasing 
to God, for God is working in him that which is 
well-pleasing in His sight. We must not impute 
unfaithfulness to God. That which He does in us 
must be good, though the treasure is in an earthen 
vessel, and though the thing done is finite, infirm, 
immature. We cannot at the same moment be sin- 
ful and pleasing. So far as we abide in Christ, and 



72 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

so far as God's seed abides in us, we cannot sin, and 
cannot be sinful ; but, then, this condition of things 
is subject to instability because of the infirmity of 
our flesh, i.e., of our faith. 

The follower of Christ is by profession, and is 
bound to be in reality, righteous. " Little children," 
says St. John, 1 " let no man deceive you : he that 
doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is 
righteous." If we are not walking in the way of 
righteousness, if we are not being led by the Spirit 
of Christ, if we fail every time our principles are 
tested, then we have need that one teach us again 
what are the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. 
The strongest passage which teaches justification by 
God's grace proceeds to urge those who have be- 
lieved in God to be careful to maintain good works. 2 
If we are not careful in this matter, what right have 
we to say we are justified ? 

i I John iii. 7. 2 Tit. iii. 4-8. 



CHAPTER X. 

PRACTICAL CONCLUSION. 

What, then, is the secret of success in our conflict 
with the world, the flesh, and the devil ? 

It is the having no confidence in oneself, and all 
confidence in God. It is the laying oneself open to 
the inworking of the Spirit of Christ, and the using 
of His force in the little things and feelings which 
make up daily life. It is the giving honour to Christ 
as our Divine Master, the resting on His atoning work 
for pardon and acceptance, and the humbling oneself 
to walk in His steps and in His strength, looking to 
Him for approbation and reward. Do we want a 
good conscience ? let it first be healed by Him. Do 
we wish for a clean heart ? let it first be contrite 
through a sense of sin, and then purified through 
the healthy influence of the Spirit. 

Of one thing we may be absolutely certain — " God 
is faithful ; " with Him is no variableness. He gives 
liberally to all. He is rich unto all that call upon 
Him. All His resources are at Christ's command, 
and are available for Christians through the Spirit. 

73 



74 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

But there is an other side. Are we faithful ? Do 
we draw from Him ? and do we use what we draw ? 
Does our faith work by love ? How about our 
tongue ? our money ? our time ? our thoughts ? Do 
we abhor evil and cleave to good ? What are our 
aims ? Do we press towards the mark ? If not, 
why not ? 

Let us look our position fairly in the face. God 
hath said to every Christian, "I will never leave 
thee nor forsake thee." Eomaine, in his celebrated 
treatise on " The Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith/' 
writes thus on this text : — 

" Here is the believers encouragement to fight, 
his God will never leave him. Here he obtains 
victory every day, his God never forsakes him ; and 
after he has fought the good fight of faith, his God 
and Saviour will make him more than conqueror; 
He will send death to kill sin. Till that happy time 
come he must be fighting against his corrupt nature 
and all its allies. No peace can be made with them, 
not even a truce. He must expect no kind of favour 
from them, because they are God's irreconcilable 
enemies; and, therefore, as long as he is in the 
world he must be fighting against the world ; as 
long as he has a body of flesh he must oppose it, 
with its affections and lusts, because they war against 
the soul ; and as long as he is in the reach of temp- 
tation, he must oppose the tempter, steadfast in the 



PRACTICAL CONCLUSION. 75 

faith, never putting off his armour until the Lord 
gives him a discharge." 

There is a remarkable little book by Joseph Milner 
of Hull, very little known apparently, called " The 
Essentials of Christianity/' 1 in which he says that 
a the believer's feelings are complex. They are 
partly made up of the effects of the Spirit's glorious 
work, and partly of the effects of the work of three 
powerful enemies to holiness — the flesh, the world, 
and the devil. It is, indeed, the believer's privilege 
to know that these enemies shall not prevail against 
him. Nevertheless, the war will last so long as he 
has a mortal body; and while it lasts, it will always 
prevent him from being completely happy, or from 
attaining in any direction the summit of his holy 
desires. Perfection, in the full sense of the word, 
is not for this life. . . . The opposition is constant 
and real. The Spirit labours each moment to pro- 
mote love, joy, peace, humility, patience, poverty of 
spirit, and every holy temper. The flesh knows 
nothing but unbelief, self- righteousness, worldly 
conformity, malice, uncleanness, and other unholy 
dispositions. . . . Hence arises the necessity of 
constant watchfulness and prayer. Without these 
means the soul cannot advance victoriously in its 
heavenward course, crucifying the flesh with its 
affections and lusts, and walking in the paths of 
1 Published by the Religious Tract Society. 



76 THE PATHWAY OP VICTORY. 

peace and holiness. No wonder that the Christian 
is the greatest paradox on earth." 

This writer fixes on Kom. xiii. 14 as expressing 
most precisely the comparative perfection attainable 
on earth — "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts 
thereof." His view of the matter is in substance as 
follows : — By repeated failures the believer finds he 
must betake himself to Christ for sanctification. 
By faith he conquers, and in no other way does he 
obtain any good thing. Thus does he continually, 
and more and more simply, put on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. In this way victory over the flesh is ob- 
tained. The Spirit of Holiness effects this by taking 
of the things of Christ and showing them to the 
believer. The Christian throws himself helpless, in 
every difficulty, into the hands of his Saviour ; and, 
waiting on Him in faith, he gains the victory over 
sin. To come to Christ must be his first business in 
every exigence; then the matter rests with Christ, 
Who will assuredly bless him in the use of all 
subordinate means. 

These writers point out two most important truths: 
first, that we must expect conflict all our life long ; 
and secondly, that the secret of the victory lies in 
Christ, not in ourselves, and that the Holy Spirit's 
office is to present Christ effectually to us. But 
they do not press with equal emphasis what we find 



PRACTICAL CONCLUSION. 77 

all through the New Testament, as has been shown 
in the preceding chapters, namely, that it is our 
business to use and exercise the gracious influence 
thus put at our disposal. 

This truth seems to be passed over by some writers 
through a dread of ministering to self-righteousness, 
a shrinking from anything having the colour of 
human merit, and an idea that a Christian is to 
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord in the 
matter of sanctification as in the matter of redemp- 
tion. But the general language of Scripture does 
not fall in with such views* and feelings. All the 
power is from God, and all the glory is His, but 
duty is ours. We are responsible for walking, run- 
ning, fighting, resisting, and acting in every way : — 

" Strong in the strength which God supplies 
Through His eternal Son." 

This is what St. Paul meant when he told the 

Philippians to work out their salvation. It is a 

question whether we use so diligently as we ought 

the riches of His grace. We have, so to speak, an 

account at God's bank, but we either do not draw 

enough, or we do not cash our cheques. 

If we look at the practical precepts in the New 

Testament, we see how much work is cut out for us. 

Everything has to be done thoroughly by us in all 

departments of life ; and our inner being is to be 

6 

LofC. 



yS THE PATHWAY OF' VICTORY. 

holy, even as God is holy. But as the standard is 
high, so the supply out of God's fulness is inex- 
haustible. Faith in Christ is the personal contact 
of the hungering and thirsting soul with the Being 
in Whom all this fulness dwells ; and the answer to 
this contact is the inflow of vital force — the Holy 
Spirit — into our soul. 

This life-force which is attained through contact 
with* the living Saviour is needful not only when 
we have to meet with severe temptation, but also in 
the ordinary course of our daily existence. It has 
already been pointed out that life is largely^made up 
of little things ; but little things may give scope for 
the acting out of great principles. In one of the 
latest chapters of Dr. Bonar's work on Holiness 
there is a list of things to be avoided, such as in- 
dolence, coldness, rudeness, slovenliness, shabbiness, 
flippancy, self-conceit, sourness, foolishness. What 
a suggestive catalogue, though only touching the 
fringe of morals ! He continues : " Let us cultivate 
a tender conscience, avoiding crotchets and conceits ; 
watching against the commission of little sins and 
the omission of little duties ; redeeming the time, 
yet never in a hurry ; calm, cheerful, frank, happy, 
genial, generous, disinterested, thoughtful of others ; 
and seeing we must protest against the world on so 
many important points, let us try to differ from it as 
little as possible on things indifferent, always show- 



PRACTICAL CONCLUSION. 79 

ing love to those we meet with, however irreligi- 
ous and unlovable, always avoiding a contemptuous 
spirit or an air of superiority." As we read such 
words as these we feel that our lives might be made 
much more beautiful and helpful and happy than 
they are, by a more observant self-discipline and a 
more systematic following in the steps of Christ. 

The beauty of life largely depends upon its sun- 
shine. "The true Christian life," says Alexander 
Knox, "is not only an inward and spiritual life, but 
a victorious, peaceful, happy life." There was a still 
depth of peace beneath the busy surface and troubled 
waves of the Lord's earthly existence. St. Paul 
lived in the sunshine of eternal love, "alway rejoic- 
ing," knowing Whom he believed, and eagerly anti- 
cipating the day of Christ's appearing. St. Peter 
reminds those to whom he writes that whilst believ- 
ing they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of 
glory. St. Johns First Epistle was written in a 
calm-frame of mind, but there is a tone of full con- 
tentment and sure confidence running through it. 
We may share this joy in the Lord — yes, and show 
it too — without necessarily introducing Hallelujahs 
into our conversation. The sense of the Divine love 
best shows itself, not in " gush," but in full-hearted 
sympathy — in 

"A heart at leisure from itself, 
To soothe and sympathise." 



80 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

We cannot too often remind ourselves that the 
aim of all God's redemptive work is to make us like 
unto Himself, that Christ may become the first-born 
among many brethren. This means that we should 
not only desire what He promises, but also love what 
He commands. 

Life is much more than a series of prohibitions 
and duties. We must not neglect these things, but 
may we not aim at the higher sphere of existence ? 
Otherwise what can be -the meaning of the words, 
" Your life is hidden, with Christ, in God"? 1 Religion 
looks complicated when we look down, simple when 
we look up. In the one case we find ourselves 
encumbered; sin is on every side. There are sins 
which it is a shame to commit, or even to think of, — • 
yet they are not altogether beyond our reach ; there 
are others which the world winks at or knows no- 
thing about, but which a Christian recognises and 
sighs over ; not so much presumptuous or deliberate 
sins (though these, alas ! are not unknown to him), as 
infirmities, sins of negligence and ignorance, a lack 
of Christ in our lives, a coming short of His standard. 
The more instructed we are in the way of Christ, the 
more sensitive we are to these failures ; and things 
which once we allowed now we forbid. So says St. 
Paul: "But now put away all these" (Col. iii. 8). 
This sensitiveness is right, but we must be careful 

1 Col. iii. 3. 



PRACTICAL CONCLUSION. Si 

not to invent sins. Though the law of Christ is im- 
perative and far-reaching, e.g. in the matter of meek- 
ness 1 and of sympathy, 2 yet some things are left 
open to judgment. We must not condemn others 
because they do not see as we do in matters of cere- 
monial, and we must not condemn ourselves because 
we do not feel as others feel. It is a great thing to 
be fully persuaded in our own minds, and then to act 
on that persuasion. We may all be thankful for the 
14th of the Romans. 

Sin, however, is a subtle enemy; and one of its 
devices is to envelop itself under a cloak of Cus- 
tom. Augustine, in his Enchiridion or Handbook of 
Christian Doctrine (§ 80), says that " sins, however 
great and detestable they maybe, are looked upon 
as trivial, or as not sins at all, when men get accus- 
tomed to them. . . . Woe to the sins of men ! for it 
is only when we are not accustomed to them that 
we shrink from them : when once we are accustomed 
to them, though the blood of the Son of God was 
poured out to wash them away, though they are so 
great that the kingdom of God is wholly shut against 
them, constant familiarity leads to the toleration of 
them all, and habitual toleration leads to the practice 
of many of them." 

Nevertheless, success is attained by looking up 
rather than by looking down ; and M'Ckeyne was 
1 1 Cor. vi. 8, a 1 Cor. xiii. 



82 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

right when he recommended that for one look at self 
we should take ten at Christ. * If it is good to say, 
" Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief," it is well 
to add, " Lord, I rejoice; help Thou my lack of joy." 
It is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom, and 
the Kingdom consists in righteousness and peace 
and joy in the Holy Ghost. 1 These are the powers 
of the world to come, 2 and we may taste them now, 
one and all of us. 

And so, building ourselves up in our most holy 
faith, and praying in the Holy Ghost, we may keep 
ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy 
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life; and He 
who is able to keep us from stumbling will present 
us spotless before the presence of His glory .with 
exceeding joy. 3 

1 Rom. xiv. 17. 3 Heb. vi. 5. 3 Jude 20, 21, 24. 



A MORNING MEDITATION AND DECISION. 

(To he followed by special petitions and intercessory 
prayers.) 

Father, Creator of heaven and earth, and Pre- 
server of all that Thou hast created, I adore Thee. I 
praise Thee for Thy greatness, for Thy wisdom, for 
Thy loving-kindness. I cannot comprehend Thee, 
but I stretch forth my hands unto Thee, and 
acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. Thou art the 
God of my salvation. 

Lord Jesus Christ, Thou art the everlasting 
Son of the Father. In Thee I see Him. I believe 
in Thee. Thou didst come to earth, and live our life, 
and bear our sin in Thine own body on the tree. 
Thou hast tasted death, and hast risen and ascended. 
Thou art now the Shepherd of the sheep ; and Thou 
art coming to be our Judge. I belong to Thee. I 
rest on Thee. I hope in Thee. I desire this day 
to follow in Thy steps, taking up the cross in Thy 
Spirit, and looking forward to the Great Day of 
Thine Appearing. 

Holy Spirit, Thou workest lovingly within me. 

1 see Thee not ; I feel Thee not ; yet Thou art ever 

83 



84 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 

near ; and in Thee I have spiritual life. I open the 
avenues of my inner being to Thee to-day. Wilt 
Thou take of the things of Christ and show them to 
me. I even now feed upon Him who has bought me 
with His precious blood; and as I do so, wilt Thou 
quicken all my active powers and all my desires, and 
breathe into them the breath of life ; and thus let the 
words of my lips and the meditations of my heart be 
acceptable in the sight of God. s 

This day, God, in Thy strength, I put away 
sin — especially the sin which has so often caused me 
to fall. I renounce it now and for ever. It shall 
not have dominion over me. I am ashamed of hav- 
ing failed so often, and I plead again the terms of 
the New .Covenant, to which I submit myself afresh. 

This day, God of my life, I commit my life to 
Thee, and I will go forth in Thy Name, setting Thee, 
Lord Jesus, before my face. As I behold Thee, may 
I become like Thee. Do Thou direct, suggest, con- 
trol, this day, all I design or do or say. Vouchsafe 
to keep me this day, Lord, without sin. Foun- 
tain of Love, as I drink from Thee, do Thou deepen 
and widen my sympathy with the needy, the fallen, 
and the ignorant, at home and abroad. Keep me 
from selfishness, self-will, and self-seeking, in the 
expenditure of my time, power, and money. What 
can I do for Thee to-day ? Whom can I help ? Is 
there any one to whom I may minister in Thy Name, 



A MORNING MEDITATION AND DECISION. 85 

in* tilings spiritual or temporal? Give me joy and 
peace in believing, so that as I follow the leading of 
Thy Spirit I may cheer and confirm others in the 
way of righteousness. 

Enlighten my understanding, Father, and open 
to me the Scriptures, that I may know more of 
the Lord Jesus, and that He may be to me a living, 
bright reality. Strengthen me to run with patience, 
looking off unto Him. Suffer me not to fall through 
ignorance, indolence, or inattention. Keep me 
watchful, humble, joyful, and abounding in every 
good word and work. 

* I know not what a day may bring forth. If any 
unexpected temptation or difficulty befall me, do 
Thou supply all needful power and wisdom. I will 
flee unto Thee to hide me. With Thee, Lord 
Jesus, is the fountain of life, and in Thy light I shall 
see light. Whom have I in heaven but Thee ? And 
there is none upon earth I desire in comparison with 
Thee. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the 
Holy Ghost ; as it was in the beginning, is now, and 
ever shall be, world without end. Amen. 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Action, human, consistent with 
grace, 50. 

Christ, how far different from 
other men, 19. 

His temptations and suffer- 
ings, 20. 

His spotlessness, 23. 

testimonies to His goodness, 

25- 
dependence on the Father, 

28. 
Christian, the, his faith, 30, 78. 

his old nature, 32. 

his conversion, 33. 

his standard, 36, 48. 

his responsibility, 50. 

Conflict, 45. 

Failure, its reasons, 63. 
Faith, a life, 78. 
Faithfulness, 74. 
Force, kinds of, 39. 
— — spiritual, 40. 

Ignorance, 63. 
Inattention, 66. 
Indolence, 65. 



Joy, 79. 

Law in relation to sin, 7. 

Means of grace, 38, 59. 
Motives, 38. 

Perfection, 76. 
Prayer, 55. 

Sacraments, 57. 
Scripture, how to study, 53. 
Sin, original ideas of, 3. 

seat of, 10. 

■ degrees of, 8. 

sensitiveness to, 80. 

source of, 12. 

results of, 15. 

in the Christian, 15, 69. 

Social ]jfe, 56. 

Spirit, the Holy, work of, 42, 48. 

Training, 52. 

Union among Christians, 58. 

Victory, continuous, 47. 

the rule, not the exception, 

61. 
its secret, 73, 

87 



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THE WORKS OF 

BISHOP STEPHEN M. MERRILL, D. D, LL D. 



Aspects of Christian Experience. 

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The New Testament Idea of Hell. 

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into erratic notions, and of confirming the wavering in the truth, 
and of stirring up in others a profounder sense of accountability 
to God in a coming day, I prayerftilly send this volume forth upon 
its mission, bespeaking for it as much of candor in its perusal 
as has been observed in its preparation.— Preface. 

The Organic Union of American Methodism. 

i2ino. Cloth. 112 pages. 45 cents. 

" The subject of the future relations of the dissevered branches 
of the Methodist family is sufficiently important to attract atten- 
tion to the utterances of any one who feels moved to give expression 
to thoughts which have become convictions, especially when 
clothed* in the language of moderation and sincerity."— Opening 
Paragraph. 

From the Michigan. Christian Advocate. 

The book will be greedily read by the large-hearted men of all 
branches of Methodism. . . It is not an impromptu production, 

but the crystallization of years of observation and thought. 



CRANSTON & CURTS, Publishers, 

CI3iTCI3iT3iT^.TI, CECIC^-O-O, ST. "LOTTIS.. 



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^4 Unique and Valuable Book : 

BLASTS FROM A RAM'S HORN; Or, Meetin 
Matters on Ciderville Sirkut. 

By EUJAH P. BROWN, Editor of the Ram's Horn. 

i2ino. Cloth, j 88 pages, *. . . . $i 20 

Contains the famous "Ganderfoot Letters," in which 
Silas Ganderfoot, of Muskeeter Kounty, in style and 
orthography all his own, recounts the doins in Methodist 
circles on Ciderville Sirkut. Also contains selected ser- 
mons, addresses, sayings, etc., of the noted evangelist- 
author, with an account of his wonderful conversion from 
infidelity. A book replete with interest and instruction. 

Every reader of this book will find himself built up in the 
faith. The light needs no introduction, because it is good for the 
eyes. This book needs no words of praise, because the truth is 
sweet to the heart.— Rev. Henry A. Buchtel, in Introduction. 

The author of this volume is a genius; more, he is a moral 
philosopher; more, he is a man .of the keenest spiritual insight, 
and has a remarkable talent for portraying, in the most ridiculous 
light, inconsistent and worldly Church members. . . . The book 
will be read with both interest and profit. — Religious Telescope. 



Two Sple?idid Stories in 0?ie Volume: 

MISTAKEN, and MARION FORSYTH, Or, Unspotted 
from the World. 

Stories of True and False Devotion. 

By ANNIE S. SWAN. 

i6mo. Cloth. 144 pages, . " . . . 45 cents. 

"This is not a fancy sketch; it is truth? The vine- 
vard is large, the laborers few. Are there any who, for 
Christ's sake, are ready to work for him with earnestness 
and singleness of heart, keeping themselves unspotted 
from the world?" — Extract. 

Although a deep religious character pervades the book, it is all 
the more interesting. Annie Swan has shown us how to make a 
religious story the most readable of any .—Journal and Messenger. 



CRANSTON & CURTS, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis. 



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^ x|xy|xx|xx|xx|xx|xx|xy|xx^ 
SEVEN GREAT LIGHTS. 

By REV. KERR B. TUPPER, D. D. 

i2rno. Cloth. 1 88 pages, 75 cents. 

Sketches of Luther, Cranmer, Knox, Wesley, 
Edwards, Campbell, and Spurgeon. 

Dr. W. F\ McDowell, President of the University of Denver, 
says in the Introduction : "These 'Seven Great Lights ' were not 
chosen arbitrarily, but were selected, after careful consultation, to 
represent these seven Churches. They are presented here in chron- 
ological order, with Luther, founder of Protestantism, at the head, 
and Spurgeon, one of its finest products, at the close of the list." 

Dr. Tupper discusses the questions involved in a true catholic 
spirit. . His style is lucid and chaste. His estimate of men is gen- 
erally fair and candid. These brief monographs are useful as well 
as interesting.— ZiorV s Herald. 

The book is eminently suggestive and stimulating. The lives 
of men eminent for zeal and consecration are full of inspiration. 
Men of different creeds are here seen to be one in consecrated 
earnestness."— The Guardian, Toronto. 

The sketches are well drawn, vigorous, and readable. They 
give valuable information respecting each of the great men men- 
tioned, and also respecting the times in which they lived.— Public 
Opinion, Washington, D. C. 



CORNER WORK; Or, Look Up and Lift Up. 

By MYRA GOODWIN PLANTZ. 

i2mo. Cloth. 277 pages, 75 cents. 

"In the world of darkness, 
So we must shine — 
You in your small corner, 
And I in mine." — Song. 

An excellent story for the young, based on Epworth League 
principles, and will be received with favor by all members of this 
organization, as well as by our Sunday-schools. It will give a 
"Look-up and Lift-up" to every one who reads it.— Baltimore 
Methodist. 

This is a pure, entrancing, instructive religious story, so 
written as to interest and impress for good any who may read it, 
especially the young. In the realm of religious fiction it deserves 
to rank high, and will be found to be an invaluable addition to Sun- 
day-school libraries and to the family library.— Religious Telescope. 



CRANSTON & CURTS, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis. 



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